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THE WILDERNESS 

A BATTLE PICTURE 



BY 

GEORGE H. DE LA VERGNE 



tZDfte &m'ctterbocfter $re** 

NEW YORK 

1921 



TS J So 7 



Copyright, 102 1 

by 

G. H. De La Vergne 

Made in the United States of America 



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DCT2b ^2 



©C1A686473 



DEDICATED 

TO MY FATHER 

GEORGE DE LA VERGNE 

Lieut.- Col. 8th Tennessee Volunteers 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Affirmation 3 

Prologue 6 

The Wilderness 14 

Earthquake 136 



v] 



THE WILDERNESS 



[i] 




RELATIVE POSITIONS IN THE WILDERNESS, MAY 6. 



AFFIRMATION 

Where stand I in this welter of the world? 
With Thee O Christ, who speak I for? for 

Thee 
Naught else is possible, Thou hast the words 
Of eternal life, and thru the weakness of 
My flesh Thy word runs keen in cleansing 

power 
And by Thy blood my sinful soul is pure. 
Whilst thru the Holy Spirit, centered deep, 
The body radiates an influence mild, 
Pervasive so unlike in nature, and 
In power from force electric, vibrations 
Coarse, and the soul illumines; thru its light 
The corporate atoms are inflused with life 
Tranquilizing blood in arteries and veins 
And the last sensitive filament of nerves, 
Thus human flesh is freed from foul obsessions, 
In texture like unto a child's again. 
And by the Spirit man's unhampered soul 

[3] 



THE WILDERNESS 

Becomes attuned to higher harmonies. 
Throughout this world thy sacrifice, O Christ, 
Is ever present and Thy triumph too, 
For Thou art God; Thou walkest thru 

reality ; 
Thy steps I follow up that narrow path, 
Solid beneath my feet, it never sinks 
In sand, not seeming solid like to those 
That fool the feet, Thy path divides the 

world, 
And leads not to a palace but a fold 
For sheep, strange beasts without, O God, how 

they 
Devour, how strange these symbols mild and 

poor, 
Good Shepherd, sheep and lambs, in such a 

world. 
Amidst a moiling pack of savage beasts 
What chance have we? Thou knowest, yet 

in fact 
These symbols are but half the truth, 

behold 
Thy spirit conquered from the cross, from 

whence 
Thine affirmation, love and truth o'er came 
And is triumphant, drawn from sources deep, 
Aye deeper, than our access, whilst like yeast 
[4] 



THE WILDERNESS 

Thy life hath levitated with its power 
The weight and stubborn substance of our 
world. 



Now thru the choking murk when ends the 

evil 
Of this world, straight we hold our steadfast 

way 
With hands that grip the rope of Faith, and 

then 
In sudden beauty, what was vision once 
Is changed to reality, and what was real 
Becomes a dream that lies upon the far 
Horizon like a cloud, once ominous 
That after storm robbed of its menace, 

shines 
In roll of white and silver, then is gone. 



[5] 



PROLOGUE 

LEE'S Signal Mountain gave a far flung 
view, 
North West Virginia stretched before his 

sight; 
Mid afternoon it was in brilliant glow 
Of early Spring, a glamorous circle cut, 
Fair, far horizons, varied foothills formed 
Below the Blue Ridge, rising as a dream 
Of cloudy grandeur, thence the circle swept 
The low green levels of Manassas Plain ; 
The reaches of the upper Rappahannock; 
Then past the misty heights of Fredericks- 
burg, 
And next the country channeled by the 

streams, 
The Mat-Po-Ny, North Anna and the South 
Her sister, then the circle curved complete 
South of Gordonsville, thence the rugged 
range 

[6] 



THE WILDERNESS 

Of hills tapered towards the River, all 

This section, peaceful, dreaming in the 

light 
That spoke of coming harvests, not the 

kind 
Of War's black reaping; on that tender 

breast 
Of fair Virginia were the talon marks 
Of former battles, Fredericksburg, the curse 
Of Chancellors ville, and westward on the 

plain, 
Manassas, now a brood of bitterer battles 
Was being hatched. The Confederate chief- 
tain 
Paid but scant heed to all this beauty 

spread 
Beneath his gaze, — the Rapidan a glaze 
Of glittering silver wound thru woods and 

hills, 
Lee scanned with searching glass, a scene 

beyond 
The River, where, upon the plain around 
Culpeper Court House was a vast armed 

camp, 
Long miles of tents in order, and huge 

parks 
Of packed artillery, a camp aside 
[7] 



THE WILDERNESS 

Thousands of horses, — there it was in power, 

The Army of the Potomac, and like 

A giant stretched its limbs from winter 

sleep, 
Fast rousing, Lee made note of all these 

signs 
With eye long practiced, then he stood deep 

mersed 
In thought, a figure poised in perfect power 
Devoid of pose, in garb of fitting gray, 
Three stars of gold on collar close about 
The throat, a head whose high perfection 

glowed 
Serene, in radiation of sub-conscious power, 
No impressment, coordination both 
Of body, soul and mind, a Prince of God, 
A Christian man, who felt the present force, 
And motion of the Spirit, very source 
Of poise and power and peace, conjoined with 

love; 
Yet human, moved by winds of scorching 

wrath, 
And there he stood the great American, 
In breadth of mind and spirit unap- 

proached, 
In all our History ; from distance drew 
His glance to scan that dark terrain below 
[8] 



THE WILDERNESS 

To the westward, where wound the River's 

course. 
Then Lee spoke to his staff "Gentleman, 

Grant 
Will cross the fords of the Rapidan 
To interpose between this army and 
Richmond," some there, dissented, but Lee 

held 
His opinion, for a moment gazed in thought 
Toward that dark blotch of woods which 

never takes 
The light, but always sullen, History terms 
The Wilderness, — south from the River's 

ford 
A region black with pines, enmeshed in 

brush, 
Rived with ravines, and pocked with ugly pits 
Of iron excavations, red with rust. 
As Lee observed this scene, a shade sar- 
donic 
Darkened his eyes, brown, luminous, not 

soft, 
He saw the enemy come stumbling to his 

doom, 
In that deep jungle reinforcing with 
Its aid, and worth an army corps, and more 
To his depleted force. 

[91 



THE WILDERNESS 

Let us turn to that other army stretched 
For miles around Culpeper Court House, yet 
'Tis not its power I sing, nor of its pomp ; 
In all that vast army I see one tent 
Scarce different from the others wherein 

sits 
Sideways to a camp table stretched with 

maps 
A man, with figure slightly slouched, brown 

beard, 
Cigar tight clipped in wide slit mouth, the 

man 
Ulysses Grant, three stars of silver shine 
On narrow velvet of his shoulder straps ; 
A commander fit in temperament and mind, 
For service in the war of nations, where 
War was a business deprived of fuss 
And feathers, science joined to will, and cold 
To all emotion, this impassive one 
Seemed neither young nor old, unkindled, 

gray 
In tone, he drew on sources deep, sub- 
merged, 
Of which he was in part not conscious, as, 
An iceberg shows one-tenth its size above 
The sweep and chop of restless seas, this 

man 

[10] 



THE WILDERNESS 

Likewise gave scarce a hint of depths below. 
In brilliant background shone victorious 

names, 
Fort Henry, Donelson, Vicksburg, then back 
To Tennessee, and Chattanooga's field. 
He pondered now the way to meet this Lee, 
Who had so often smacked defeat against 
This army that Grant was sent to chaperone 
Against marauders bold, to Richmond town. 
Three plans of action placed upon the map 
Clearly defined, to meet the General's 

choice : 
The first to transfer his great army down 
The large waterways straight to Richmond's 

gates, 
This was McClellan's method, promised 

much; 
The second plan to march by the right 

flank 
Beyond Lee's Signal Mountain, sectors 

marked 
By open country, where the larger force 
Could spread with wide manoeuvres to its 

end; 
The middle course to march across the 

fords 
Of Rapidan into the deep wilderness, 
[111 



THE WILDERNESS 

With hope to get Lee on the hip and keep 
Between his army and his Richmond base. 
Grant's balanced choice might well be said 

to hide, 
In one of three carved caskets, silver, gold 
Or brutal lead, Will Shakespeare worked 

this scheme, 
As you remember, now in one there sleeps 
Our Lady of Victory, bright in pictured 

mold. 
This suitor was not gay nor touched with 

fire 
Of fierce impatience, calmly brooded, then 
Short nodded to his servant Fate to ope' 
The leaden casket, turned and briefly wrote 
An order for the army, straight to march 
By fords across the Rapidan and through 
The wilderness, instructing Gen. Meade, 
"Lee's Army is your objective, where he 

goes, 
You go," signed U. S. Grant, Lieutenant- 

General. 
This done, he turned to take a jug, 

supposed 
To be within his trunk, not there, he stood 
Emotionless, then turned and lifted the flap 

and strode 

[121 



THE WILDERNESS 

Outside, hand in pocket, cigar clipped 
Atilt in corner of his thin-lipped mouth, 
He never even said "damn that Rawlins," 
His aide and old-time friend from Illinois, 
Who strove with all his strength, and as a 

friend, 
To hold Grant back from drink, his only 

vice, 
The little rum black imp that dogged his 

steps ; 
His nature seemed inert, an idol blank 
Of monolythic stone, unless aroused, 
By stimulus of battle or of rum ; 
This spoils the picture but it speaks the 

truth. 



13 



THE WILDERNESS 

CLOSE on the Ides of March, black marked 
of old 
With blood of Caesar, doomed to sudden 

death ! 
Two armies, Grant's and Lee's, were stretched 

at length, 
One north, one south, of the wide Rapidan ; 
And as the weeks of Spring did broaden 

down 
Toward the Summer, these great armies 

took 
Real semblance, Grant's became an Eagle, 

wings 
Slow rising, pulsed with fury, and the 

threat 
Of coming battle, northward stretched, the 

tail 
Along the railroad towards the junction 

point, 

[141 



THE WILDERNESS 

Manassas, southward in that jungle called, 
The Wilderness, crouched low a tiger lean 
With lashing tail that stirred the dust 

around 
The white of Orange Court House where 

appeared 
Its master, ready to cut the leash that 

held 
The Army of Northern Virginia, what 
A formal name for such a beast, inflamed 
With furious hunger waiting for its kill. 
You scarce discern it as it wends along 
Or stops within the jungle, camouflaged 
By sun and shadow, then it crouches, comes 
The noise of crashing brush, then lurches 

thru 
The bush, a huge blue elephant with trunk 
Trumpeting the winds of Wrath, a Mahout 

small 
Rides on the massive neck, nor deigns to 

beat 
The swaying head, his weapon but a stick 
Whittled to smallness, can this little man 
Ride out the storm? That tale must soon 

be told. 
Released the tiger springs, a catapult 
Of hate, missing the head he tears the flank 
[15] 



THE WILDERNESS 

To shreds of crimson, rends the other side, 
The creature sways, now shall it fall to lie 
Inert upon the jungle? no, for look! 
That idol of a man is roused, he speaks, 
Few gutteral words to those great ears and 

strikes 
That gray round boulder of a head, thus 

stung 
It clears, whilst thru its body runs, renewed, 
A force galvanic from that man who gave 
No outward sign of power, ungestured, 

grim, 
But with a will to Victory; roused the beast 
Shakes off the tiger, crushing down, one leg, 
Beneath its ponderous tread, trumpets in 

rage 
And lumbers thru the forest with intent 
To get between the tiger and his lair; 
That creature licks his wounds, just for a 

moment, 
Then moves in swiftness parallel to course 
Of its opponent, soon these two will meet 
At Spottsylvania, there we can not go 
The Wilderness our meat, and then 'tis 

known 
(That papers scarce and publishers are 

too, 

[16] 



THE WILDERNESS 

Alas ! they like not power, unheralded, 
Since all afflatus must be caused to blow 
Thru standard tubes of penny whistles made 
By them to toot some tinny tunes, at least 
So seems Farewell, oh Persiflage, 'tis time) 
To take our line of March, come muse, lead 

on 
I follow, so must you, on dit, let's go, 
Near drew the time decisive, yet it seemed 
All Nature was attuned to pleasant peace, 
Impossible that acrid smoke like fumes from 

hell 
Should choke the air, and raucous yells of 

hate, 
Unhuman cries of anguish, soon would 

stab, 
White scar, intensely burn the gentle waves 
Of ether musical, whereon the sun 
Ripples its harmonies to hearts attuned ; 
Air tinctured with fragrance of coming 

Spring 
Caused soon to stink with sulphur and the 

smell 
Of sourish blood, once salted with the glow 
Of human life, impossible and yet 
The hours were gliding smoothly towards 

the dawns 

[17] 



THE WILDERNESS 

Of days so terrible, that thru after years 
Brave men and seasoned in the arts of war 
Averted thoughts and memories from that 

sound, 
"The Wilderness." Upon an evening mild, 
Near fourth of May, when verged the mid- 
night hour, 
Two columns garbed in uniform of blue, 
Some miles in length and several miles 

apart 
Were set toward the fords of the Rapidan 
Awaiting the signal! Meade's command to 

cross 
At Germanna Ford nearest to Lee, there- 
fore 
To southward, this composed of Warren's 

Fifth, 
And Sedgwick's Sixth corps and cavalry and 

guns 
In true proportion, Hancock's second corps 
To cross at Ely's Ford five miles below. 
Half way between these two another Ford, 
Culpeper Mine, reserved for wagon trains, 
That trundled by like fat old women, heads 
Encased in poke-bonnets white and new, 
Soon grimed with smoke and dust of harsh 
campaigns. 

[18] 



THE WILDERNESS 

The columns guarding their maternal forms 
Filled with supplies and fodder for the 

troops. 
'Twas fit precaution since that, gallant 

Stewart 
Might be hovering near to thrust his gay 
Attentions on these ladies huge, abduct 
Them for his men in whirlwind fashion, 

such 
His ways ! a fence enclosed their rendezvous 
Of spikes, sabres of Sheridan's and points 
Of bayonets, detailed from other corps — , 
Queen bees they were unique in value, when 
Attacked quite helpless, so were guarded 

close. 
The fighting columns were two lances 

tipped, 
Sharp points of cavalry, with infantry 
As fibred shaft and balanced at the end 
With batteries of the guns, then duly poised 
And hurled, with hope, perchance, to pierce 

and pin 
The swift elusive tiger of Lee's force. 
What thought these thousands as they stood 

at rest 
Awaiting the order that would unlock 
The gates of Hazard, opening on a world 
[191 



THE WILDERNESS 

Alien in aspect to the world of peace — , 
High Victory and certain anguish, some 
There were who felt a premonition cold 
Like chilling lead, alas to be realized, 
A feeling not to be explained, from air 
That seems a vacancy, but is alive 
With forces that our eyes can ne'er behold. 
These soldiers were in fact mere boys, who 

gave 
No heed, and little thought, to coming fate, 
Though just a step ahead, above the lines. 
Low stretched a yellow fog, of bawdy speech 
Concerning women, this low mist was lit 
With curses common as the air they 

breathed. 
"Say Bill, you 'member that fat nigger 

wench 
"Jake had in Washington, he likes 'em 

black." 
"Oh Hell," says Jake, "she was to bring me 

luck." 
So ran the talk, but different were the 

thoughts 
Of others, underneath this scale and scurf 
Of common talk the average of that man's 
Army was straight; a clean backbone that 

naught 

[201 



THE WILDERNESS 

Could bend; how else was the Republic 

saved ? 
But as happens often, the rotten few 
Stunk up the air, for other men to breathe. 
In justice must we note that in this war 
There was no carnival of rape as mars 
With black iniquity, the horrid trail 
Of conquering armies, officers and men 
Were set against such outrage, Grant though 

calm 
And patient, struck this crime with savage 

force, 
A man who raped a woman got short shift 
At his command, in this the spirit showed 
Of all his armies, so much for preface. 
Upon the touch of twelve there snapped the 

brief 
Command, that roused those columns though 

apart 
To jointed action, a rhythmic python seems, 
Stretching, interminable, its movement 

wrapt 
In sheltering darkness which is ever tinged 
With mystery and the lure of the unseen, 
From dimmed horizons; on these columns 

moved 
Toward the Fords that split the Rapidan, 
[211 



THE WILDERNESS 

And dawn revealed these marching hosts, 

dust hazed; 
First jaunty cavalry with men and horse 
Clean limbed, alert, the leaders cloaked in 

blue, 
The troops by guidons marked, a brilliant 

show 
To cause Mars' brutal front to light with 

pride, 
Next miles of infantry loose jointed with 
The clanking batteries, thus a River formed 
Of steel and flowing on with steady, strong 
Propulsion from the distance down across 
The dark pontoons, and there the wilderness 
Received and swallowed; looking back one 

saw 
A constant sheen of light, in keenness flung 
From bayonets bent slight in perfect tilt 
Above a marching army, to the eye 
As piercing as the notes of bugles blown 
Unto the ear, the peak of martial thrill. 
Lee's mounted scouts, trig-shaped, alert, 

keen scanned 
Thru glasses set, then moving on, and yon, 
The Army of the Potomac, their watch 
Was from a knoll half sheltered by the 

green 

[22] 



THE WILDERNESS 

Of graceful trees, then as the iron hoofs 

Of Sheridan's first chargers struck the 

stream, 
In glittering fans that splashed their 

tarnished chests, 
Lee's scouts gray garbed, remembering well 

this foe, 
In high good humor whirled their eager 

mounts, 
With sneering comments on this western 

Grant, 
Who like some others dared to beard their 

chief, 
The master in his own terrain, then up 
The turnpike dimmed with tender shade, 

galloped 
Towards Headquarters. Lee was holding 

back 
His hounds of war, his was the master hand, 
Until the Wilderness should trip and sprawl. 
His cumbrous foe and when entangled, then 
Those gaunt gray beasts of his would tear 

and rend 
As on the haunted field of Chancellors ville. 
South of the River was his chosen ground, 
Prestige was Lee's, a mind sagacious, strong, 
Serenely glowing thru his splendid frame, 
[231 



THE WILDERNESS 

A unity of purpose joined with power, 
A nature finely tempered for its ends, 
With martial character of fibered strength, 
Long trained in bitter battles where he took 
The measure of the Northern chieftains 

save 
Only Meade, now opposed by Grant, a man 
Unemphasized in manner and in mind, 
Unwarlike, mild, whose neutral tint con- 
cealed 
A will to Victory, such, no furnace heat 
Of battle could e'er melt as fluid to 
Some other mold than his set purpose, — 

this, 
The United States, his country one and not 
Divided by this rending treason, this his 

will 
Attained despite long weeks of horror, 

whilst 
His hand unshaken guided straight the 

plow 
Whose share of steel with cutting slowness 

turned 
One long black furrow filled, with dead men's 

bones. 
Throughout that fourth of May, two lines of 

blue 

[24] 



THE WILDERNESS 

Poured into the engulfing wilderness, 
Midway between them passed the rumbling 

trains, 
Of snug trimmed wagons, sometimes over- 
turned, 
Their road a wood trail so they rocked from 

stumps, 
To ruts, their tops as sails on heavy seas. 
Before the reader's mind must clear be set 
The region and the plan of battle, else 
We are lost within a jungle and dismayed. 
A map's a skeleton with roads for bones, 
Full streams for arteries and the branching 

veins 
Of rivulets and runs, back bone of hills, 
The brown of hairy woods and all endowed 
With meaning, and by imagination clothed. 
Most conflicts have their tell-tale marks and 

brands, 
Vicksburg, the river, Gettysburg, its hills. 
The Wilderness the battle of the roads. 
From Lee's Headquarters twenty miles 

away, 
There branched two highways, one was 

called 
The Orange Court House Pike; its course 

did run 

[25] 



THE WILDERNESS 

Nearest the River, whilst its brother named 
The Orange Plank of marked plebeian tread 
To carry wagons through soft swampy 

ground, 
Ran roughly parallel unto the Pike, 
Both pierced the wilderness and were one 

mile, 
Then two apart ; south from Germanna Ford 
A Turnpike skirted the northern fringe 
Of battle and the wilderness, it cut 
The Orange Turnpike near the Wilderness 
Tavern but crossed, the Orange Court House 

Plank 
Outside of bounds as one might say, its 

sphere 
Important, the chief feeder of the fight, 
Mark well the final highway called the 

Brock, 
Its common color changed to one of blood, 
It wanders up from Spottsylvania, marked 
By Todd's old Tavern, intersected here 
By the Catharpin Road, by Hancock used 
Upon the morrow, on it goes three miles, 
Entering the jungle, later cuts the Plank 
Then on a mile it cuts the feeder road, 
The Germanna Turnpike, forming thus 
A tendon, twixt these two, thus have I placed 
[26 1 



THE WILDERNESS 

These rude stringers on which to build the 

fight; 
But better yet compared to crosses set, 
One crosspiece formed for both, the northern 

road 
Germanna, roughly two uprights are nailed 
Against it, one the Plank, the other known 
The Pike, here on the morrow two armies 

nailed 
In crucifixion, dying for the Right 
In fierce sincerity. There yet remains 
One way, that lurks half hidden thru the 

fringe 
Of this terrain, with strange importance 

marked, 
Poor second cousin of the battle roads, 
The bed of a half finished railroad, mark ! 
It ran as proper, thru the farm of one 
Miss Billion, more Mr. Billions have been 

made 
In railroads, too half finished, here is hid 
A fossil tale, I give ingredients, mix 
It for yourself, Bright Prospectus framed 
By Colonel Sellers, in the wilderness 
Shall bloom the Iron Mines of richest ore, 
Great vulcan what a dream of wealth right 

here 

[27] 



THE WILDERNESS 

Unfolds, — a railroad built shall carry ore 
Down to the River, the River to the sea, 

Alas 
Never to be, that road an outcast lurked 
A villain in the brush whom Longstreet used 
Upon the second day to thrust a knife 
Into the Federal side, it shirks along 
Its hidden way a quarter of a mile 
Below, and parallel unto the Plank 
Until it neared the Brock, then scooted 

wide, 
Southeast towards the farm of Stephen 

Triggs. 
Look out! old Stephen or you'll lose some 

chicks, 
This fellow, sure a villain mighty sly. 
The foci of the battle must be marked ; 
Working together, let us place a few 
Red buoys to show above the jungle waves 
The channels of conflict ; first is set, 
The Wilderness Tavern near junction 

formed 
Of the Orange Turnpike and Germanna 

Road 
This buoy indicates the northwest sector; 

Grant's 
Headquarters, let us mark with smaller buoy 
[28] 



THE WILDERNESS 

What color? blue? your choice my friend, — 

its place 
Above a sparse pine knoll on Lacy's farm, 
Just south of the Germanna, to the west, 
The Orange Turnpike; East a mile the 

Brock, 
Due north a half a mile the Tavern stood ; 
Two miles southeast across the tangled 

woods, 
The heart of the grim wilderness where more 
Than one Federal unit was to trip and fall, 
Let's mark Lee's station, gray with golden 

stars, 
The Widow Tapp's just west from off the 

Plank, 
A mile from where this road adjoins the 

Brock ; 
Two miles along the Plank to south we 

reach 
The place called Parker's store, here float a 

buoy 
To mark the furthest limit of the south 
Sector, the north a Tavern and the south a 

store 
Reversing symbols, for this fight correct, 
Lee's short resources made him quick and 

keen 

[29] 



THE WILDERNESS 

To strike a bargain, Grant was forced to 

use 
Strong stimulants of reinforcing troops 
To boost his fading line; this Parker's store 
A name to conjure with throughout those 

days, 
To rouse to high endeavor those who 

sought 
Its proud possession, just a country store 
Of weather boards, unpainted since the 

days 
Of President Polk, behind its dusty panes 
Were sample goods, and calicos, and toys, 
Outside a hitching rail deep gnawed, and 

holes 
Dug out by stamping horses, plagued with 

flies 
Swarming specks gauze fluttering in the 

sun, 
It was from Parker's ebbed the first advance 
Of Union troops, thereafter it remained 
Beyond the Federal grasp as though a 

chasm 
Intervened, so their eyes denied a glimpse 
Of that emporium, there stood in brush 
Twixt Plank and Pike the varying units, 

and 

[301 



THE WILDERNESS 

With lifted muzzles bayed towards Parker's 

store ; 
First Crawford, Wadsworth next, then last 

and least 
Ambrosial Burnside, these in turn would rise 
And point towards Parker's, snuff the tainted 

breeze 
Then take direction marked as exit, save 
Wadsworth, although mauled and mangled, 

fearless fought, 
He reaped a soldier's death, a living name. 
Now friend, you've rested while I talked, 'tis 

time 
To finish up our task; from Parker's store 
Retrace our steps two miles, past Widow 

Tapp's 
A name of humor fit for Shakespeare's 

muse, 
One mile beyond we mark the junction 

formed 
Of Plank and Brock, with buoy of flaming 

red 
Symbolic, here the waves of battle rose 
To surges maddened by the roaring rush 
Of fierce cross currents, forming whirlpools 

black 
Above the crossing of the roads, — your task 
[31] 



THE WILDERNESS 

My friend is done, but mine continues, 

when 
The battle joins stick close upon my heels, 
Your guide, who megaphones each passing 

phase. 
How strange and weird is war's impressment, 

takes 
The petty name of some poor hamlet, farm, 
Some tavern dinged for paint, obscure 

crossroads 
And holds them in its flame, then brands the 

minds 
Of men forever with black lettered names. 
Great battles flashing out with sudden 

glare 
Of green-white brilliance from oblivion 

bring 
A hill, or mountain, tavern, or a store; 
One vividness of light, then darkness dazed 
From contrast but, upon the eye is stamped 
The image of these objects for all time. 
This is the emphasis of war that makes 
True values, naught, the valueless to shine. 
How stood the armies on this fourth of 

May— 
The day of movement, then the grapple 

grim. 

[32] 



THE WILDERNESS 

For first review, the column nearest Lee, 
The one that crossed Germanna Ford, 

composed 
Of Warren's Fifth, the Sixth, Sedgwick's 

command, 
Two powerful corps equipped for war's 

demands ; 
At two P. M. Warren was up, his front 
Beyond the Tavern and in position, next, 
The Sixth, was clear across the Ford by 

six, 
Its advance near the position, this corps 
Was forced to take, when Lee launched his 

attack. 
As we review these columns stretching 

back 
For miles with clanking batteries at the 

end, 
Like rattles on a snake that whirr and 

warn, 
Apprehend here a living entity, 
Morale, its spirit, from united will 
And common purpose, thus the atoms formed 
Of individual soldiers cohesive, sent 
A force electric through the mass, thus 

raised 
To highest voltage, every man became, 

3 [331 



THE WILDERNESS 

More than himself, endowed with strength to 

stand 
The unendurable, through communicable 
And added power, not so in these last days, 
For instance, that huge war miscalled the 

great 
Which tore a gap in Time and blew the 

years 
To dust, or might we say, that then Mar's 

fist 
Knocked four big teeth straight down the 

throat of time. 
This martial period lost the kindred touch 
Of moving armies, with their unit cells 
Of companies, regiments, congeries of 
Brigades and ganglia of various corps, 
A living organism, was thus upbuilt. 
In this last war so skilled something was 

lost, 
The troops perforce were moved, in darkened 

trains 
And huge lorries roared down the roads of 

France, 
With separate loads of coal to feed the fires 
Of Hell whose steady heat that must not lag. 
Some miles to north the second corps had 

made 

[34] 



THE WILDERNESS 

Its halt, near Chancellorsville ready to 

march 
Upon the morrow round the left and caused 
Lee to conjecture where the blow might 

fall. 
The Federal cavalry had swept ahead 
In all directions, feeling for Lee's force. 
It was the army's eyes, but still how blind 
Compared with aeroplanes, omniscient eyes 
To read the whole terrain of battle, like 
An open page, but in the Civil War, 
The General must forecast his foe's intent 
Behind a wall of hills past forest deep ; 
Testing their wisdom, Lee with height of 

skill 
Would oft foretell the purpose of his foe, 
Meade too adept at times, in this high 

test 
Of generalship, but Grant, aggressive, 

thought 
Less of his opponent, more what he would 

do. 
His was the offensive that oft compelled 
His foe to match his lead, his inner self 
In action like a dynamo that whirrs 
So swift it seems half silent, Grant's inmost 
Nature set to the aggressive, encased 
[351 



THE WILDERNESS 

In form and manner like to metal cold, 
Enclosing thus the incandescent flame ; 
Not like his countrymen to whom the man 
Is king who swaggers, swears and beats his 

way 
With bluff, in boyhood Grant was deemed a 

fool 
Because he was so silent midst the brag 
Of others ; not articulate he said 
It with flowers placed on tender graves of 

those 
Who challenged, not his ambition, but 

opposed 
The cause for which he waged continuous 

fight; 
His continence of speech and nature fed 
With unctuous flame his deep aggressive 

will 
That guided the Republic through a war 
To final peace. Now let us turn to Lee — 
The morning of the fourth was time for him to 

loose 
His legions, for into the wilderness 
Was pouring fast the hosts of Meade and 

Grant. 
E well's corps was the first released and 

took 

[36] 



THE WILDERNESS 

The upper road nearest the river, called 
The Orange Turnpike, later Hill and Heth 
Leaped down the lower road, the Orange 

Plank, 
Roads roughly parallel as we recall, 
Splitting the wilderness a mile to two 
Apart, these columns launched intent to 

pierce, 
The Federal army stretched for miles along 
The Germanna Road, thus speared to hold it 

high 
Like to a wriggling eel above the waves 
Of that thick jungle, but the rebels lacked 
The concentrated strength to strike this 

blow. 
Therefore Lee's new intention was to hold 
Grant's army till his widely scattered troops 
Longstreet's and Pickett's should have time 

to join 
Their strength to his attack, this was Lee's 

plan 
Of battle on the fifth ; outnumbered three 
To one, he backed the wilderness to aid, 
Concealing his real strength and slowing up 
All movement of the enemy enmeshed 
Within the jungle, Grant had planned to 

reach 

[37] 



THE WILDERNESS 

More open ground, in moving by the left 
Outflanking Lee, who strove to put two 

spokes 
To stop that ponderous wheel, from turning 

fast, 
If once it got momentum ! now both schemes 
Tipped in the balance. Ewell was some 

hours 
Ahead of Hill and halted till he could 
Draw even on the lower road, the Plank. 
In early afternoon there came first flash 
Of quick electric contact where there met 
Opposing outposts both on Plank and Pike ; 
Thus Lee succeeded in his tactics, aimed 
To stabilize fluid events, to shape 
Of battle, having held Grant's stronger 

force 
The crisis panted keen to hold against 
Superior numbers, till Longstreet arrived, 
This effort doomed to last one bitter day. 
Right here war's drama takes its highest 

pitch 
Sustained suspense, the coming of reserves, 
Napoleon's future balanced on the aid 
Of Grouchy, Blucher brought the Allies 

help 
And Waterloo was lost, Field Marshal Foch 
[38] 



THE WILDERNESS 

Held his reserves, then at the proper time 
Hurled them like thunderbolts against the 

Boche 
In blasting ruin thus upon the brink 
Of battle Lee sent for Longstreet, to start 
His march in haste from Gordonsville, 

distant 
Some thirty miles, whilst Grant dispatched 

the word 
To Burnside, march at once, he too 
Was thirty miles away, his camp towards 
Manassas Junction ; let us now compare 
The two contestants in this crucial race, 
Physically they were like two strong full 

backs 
In the game which mimics the art of war, 
Their function was to back the crumbling 

line, 
Longstreet the Georgian was of stature tall, 
Of powerful frame, strong bearded, slow 
Oft sluggish but when by crisis roused 
No longer "le noir faineant" as told 
By Scott in Ivanhoe, from indifference 
Changed to overwhelming fury, with a rush 
Brought Victory, Burnside was also large 
Of frame and wore a beard that bore his 

name, 

[391 



THE WILDERNESS 

Adorning either side his pink comeliness 
Of face, but all unlike the Confederate, 
The difference typified in shape of beards, 
In Longstreet's rippling flow appeared real 

strength, 
In Burnside's vanity, yet amiable, 
His fine presence combined with genial 

ways 
Kept him through years of blunder black 

with blood, 
Until the Crater, then he too was fired, 
Always his was the wheel that stuck in mud 
Of sluggish action, held the army back ; 
In this campaign Burnside and Butler like 
Two end men kept the ball of black defeat 
Tossed back and forth above the struggling 

host, 
The Army of the Potomac, destroyed 
Grant's plan of action, yet he shares the 

blame 
In last analysis, his the command, 
But lacked the moral force to fire them 

both, 
Until these two had wrought their futile 

worst, 
Forcing the war to stretch another year. 
At what a cost ! so runs the tale of men 
[401 



THE WILDERNESS 

'Twas ever thus, as History long hath 

shown, 
Our page the blackest, England's none too 

white, 
Whilst Germany with perfect wisdom 

wrought 
The damnedest folly of the whole damn 

bunch. 
As postscript to Burnside's career I add 
That Lincoln had a weakness for this man ; 
Because agreeable and honest, gave 
To Lincoln's mind a restful cushion, tired 
Of young Napoleons and official fools. 
Upon this day of preparation, May 
The Fourth, I too must follow suit and set 
Before the reader's mind details of size, 
And characteristics of these two foes ; 
The Army of Northern Virginia claims 
As first, the eye of our analysis. 
Drawn from all portions of the South, salute 
The Carolinians, fired with fine elan, 
Virginians fierce to free their common- 
wealth 
From foul invasion, tall, gaunt Georgians 
The men of Alabama, all alert 
With martial spirit, mild Floridians, 
The Texans lean as leather and as wild 
[411 



THE WILDERNESS 

As prairie wolves, all southern army, pure 
American, e'en to the names derived 
From English stock, with temper of that type. 
No such army will we behold again 
Of natural fighters, unified in blood, 
Straight native dram unmixed, like liquid 

fire 
To cause Mar's eyes to water, yet this brew 
Not to be swallowed at a gulp, ask Grant, 
By slow attrition sipped unto the last. 
To change the image, like a piece of cloth 
So woven and so firm, refused to rot, 
But torn and worn, it frazzled to its end, 
Leaving the south bereft through coming 

years. 
This southern army was too finely drawn 
But bore no fat of gross incompetence 
By skilful officers its lively frame 
Was supple sinewed, and behind each blow 
Was every ounce of weight, co-ordinate 
The muscles to defense, offense, in size 
This Army of Northern Virginia had 
All told seventy thousand of all arms. 
The Army of the Potomac had size, 
Equipment, many veteran units and thus 
Their knowledge joined, to aid the fresh 

recruits, 

[42] 



THE WILDERNESS 

But its natural speed was slowed by some 

defects 
Of organization and of units ; 
There was the awkward joint command of 

Meade 
And Grant, the necessity was here, since 

Meade 
Though skilful, never had the punch to 

bring 
Lee down, this Gettysburg had proved, so 

Grant's 
Tenacity enforced Meade's will and freed 
His shoulders from the weight of hard 

decisions ; 
Meade did the work, detail and drudgery, 

war's 
Fierce continuous strain, made taut his 

temper, but 
No soldier of the Union deserved more 
Praise than he, forced to meet the hardest 

test 
That ever soldier had, to do the work 
And see another man receive the praise. 
Well-nigh unscathed, he fought his way 

through fire 
Of scorching envy, loyal to the end; 
Severer test than trial by battle, Grant 
[43] 



THE WILDERNESS 

Too has his meed of praise, his self control, 
Freedom from vanity, singleness of aim 
Made possible what rarely hath been done. 
Another cause for this relation was 
That Grant stood as nonconductor between 
Currents of influence sent from Washington 
That had heretofore oft disturbed the 

course 
Of armies, malignant poisonous power, 
None got by Grant to reach to General 

Meade, 
Hard driven and high strung, yet power was 

lost 
By dual control inevitably. 
The night before the battle settled down 
In beauty with dim darkness interfused 
And loveliness of early May whose warmth 
Laid tender cheek against the wilderness, 
Yet War brewed poison for the morrow's 

dawn, 
Tincture of lead and sulphur, treacle mixed 
Of thoughts of country, martial dreams of 

fame. 
Counter to nature were the plans of men, 
With all his forces set himself to kill, 
And deserts made of breadths of fertile 

land; 

[44] 



THE WILDERNESS 

' A nightmare world derived from bitter bile, 
And looking backward seems an evil dream 
When wakes the sleeper, but remember this 
These soldiers were not pawns of hell, but 

fought 
Sustained by deep convictions, cast in mold, 
Worthy of honor, there's the riddle read 
It as you will, I've other fish to fry. 
Absorbed in routine duties, soldiers gave 
But little thought of what the day would 

bring ; 
By campfires ate their suppers, laughed and 

joked ; 
Along the miles of dusky roads their arms 
Were stacked to wait the call of battle 

dawns. 
Sleep well, O soldiers! Long and rough the 

way, 
A whole round year with just its circle dipt. 
Parked back of each brigade, in open glades, 
The trains of wagons filled with all supplies 
Of food and ammunition, the scene alive 
With hearty moving of rations to feed 
The miles of soldiers camped along the 

roads ; 
There were long lines of tethered mules with 

heels 

[451 



THE WILDERNESS 

Of slender quickness, switching tails that' 

marked 
Danger, then through the darkness shone the 

gleams 
Of moving lanterns; round the campfires' 

glow 
The teamsters sat guffawing at the jests 
Told by their joker ; a hard bitten crew 
Tough as the mules they drove with curses 

loud. 
Then silence came and thru the darkness 

loomed 
Like herds of elephants the wagons huge. 
Feeling the issue brooding o'er that night 
There comes a question pressing on the 

mind; 
Did this impending avalanche of force 
Make no impress upon the world unseen? 
In presence just another night prepared 
In softness for the growth of corn and grass; 
But for a morrow, filled with strange 

import, 
A vacancy, a void, that aches and aches 
With black futility ; and was there made 
No preparation for the souls of men 
Coming by thousands, streaming through 

the Gate 

[461 



THE WILDERNESS 

Wrenched from its hinges, spirits, torn 

aghast, 
Convulsed with horror, streaked with livid 

hate, 
Like countless leaves blown from the trees of 

life 
Through vacancy of space to lie at last 
Winnowed against the wall of outer dark- 
ness? 
Not so, there is a force, kindred in thought 
Unto ourselves, the world, the drama 

formed 
Of His objective mind, the source unseen, 
Of comfort, punishment, and power, we 

walk 
The trail of his long foresight; back, far 

back, 
Before this battle pending to its doom, 
Beneath His regard there grew a common 

man 
To bear in future weight of armies, watched 
His patience grow, thru unillumined years, 
Of dullest labor, saw his will ground smooth 
As polished granite by the sands of coarse 
Attrition, thus it rose a pillar formed 
To bear War's burdens which had crushed to 

earth 

[47] 



THE WILDERNESS 

More brilliant men, whose natures were 

betrayed 
By hidden cleavage, vanity, the lust 
Of coarse desires, and fear of War's 

demands. 
In man's destiny naught is certain, comes 
At times a power that makes adjustment, 

else 
Our world had fallen to certain ruin ; 
We note a presence far from God's left 

hand, 
A shape, called Fortune whom men often 

greet 
With laughter or with stoic faces set 
Accept her action, oft her alien thread 
Draws taut along the hem of human life, 
Or History's robe, that else might ravel 

out. 
I saw this form of influences slowly draw 
Toward this field, intention but not haste 
Throughout her mien and motion; soon the 

stars 
Faded from splendor to pure points of light 
Then disappeared, the bugles blew to life 
The sleeping army, roads that long had 

dreamed, 
Within the wilderness, suddenly awoke, 
[481 



THE WILDERNESS 

More thronged than crowded streets, yet not 

confused, 
Through all the motion ran an order, swift 
Precision, then cohesion, thus was wrought 
A force from particles to power. The sound 
Of bugles had not only roused the troops 
Of Warren's and of Sedgewick's corps but 

stirred 
Hancock's command, encamped five miles 

away 
In northerly direction on the edge 
Of Chancellorsville where Joe Hooker lost 
To Lee; his was the Furnace road, well 

named 
To bring his troops to such a battle, this 
Transects the Brock near Tavern named for 

Todd, 
Thus Hancock's powerful corps, would move 

below 
The Wilderness, a threat and menace, this 
That caused the compass needle of Lee's 

plans 
To tremble, to deviate towards this mass 
But with changing direction soon did point 
Straight down the Plank, by fierce attraction 

drawn, 
As will appear. Grant's movement had begun 

4 [491 



THE WILDERNESS 

In early morning, whilst the whitish mist 
Hung heavy, thru the woods, breath of the 

swamps 
That chilled the dubious air and beaded 

drops 
Of moisture gathered on the guns and 

gemmed 
The soldiers' beards; beyond the river, 

dust 
Of Burnside's march rose on the distant 

plain. 
The cavalry, like mobile fingers searched, 
Thru forest, down the roads, to feel the 

first 
Approach, and hold the enemy's advance, 
Creeping like mist of gray along the roads. 
Wilson's troopers in part to Parker's store 
Upon the lower stringer called the Plank 
Nailed to the Brock three miles towards the 

north ; 
More of his brigades swept the Catharpin 

road, 
At Craig's Meeting House joined in hot 

debate, 
Just like disgruntled brethren, with the 

men 
Of Tolbert's troop, besides this scouting task, 
[50] 



THE WILDERNESS 

The cavalry had guard of wagon trains, 
Herded in corrals spiked with gleaming 

swords. 
The infantry in this conflict was submerged 
In suffocating seas of heated woods, 
The cavalry alone was free to breathe, 
Sweeping in wide adventures far afield ; 
The huge world war no dash of color showed 
From this mobile arm, but by tense pressure 
Of need, the cavalry was changed to forms 
Which rose in air, as scouting steeds they 

wore 
Gay trappings, squadrons galloping on high 
Sabering the air, in silver flashes 'gainst the 

blue. 
Our sole recourse when dazed with blood and 

sweat, 
In this sub-forest battle is to take 
To horse and ride with Sheridan afield. 
The impending struggle holds us to our task, 
We know that General Lee had opened 

wide 
The sluices for his forces on the Fourth 
And down the bed of the twin roads, the 

Plank, 
And Orange Turnpike flowed two streams of 

death, 

[51] 



THE WILDERNESS 

Gray volumes with the height and crested 

sheen 
Of sinister steel, these rivers ran too thin, 
More body must be added to their strength, 
Now where was lumbering Longstreet ? Miles 

away, 
On the horizon near to Corbin's Bridge, 
Faint sounds of battle just could reach his 

ears, 
Pulled out of drawing by Hancock's 

approach, 
So on the fifth of May, outnumbered, Lee 
Was in his opponent's hand could it be closed. 
But he carried the fight with such a rush 
To Grant that he could not enforce his grip. 
But now the time has come to fight it out, 
Weigh in, Gentlemen, weigh in, there's the 

gong, 
The robe of waiting thrown aside we see 
The Army of Northern Virginia stripped, 
For action, lean, and sinewy, in heft 
A light-heavy of lankey reach, and punch 
Of paralyzing power, the other called 
The Army of the Potomac, in size 
A giant heavy weight with muscles huge 
On back and knotted arms, not there the 

speed, 

[52] 



THE WILDERNESS 

The other had, some fat around the waist, 
Burnside the sluggish made this extra 

weight. 
Let's go, by God, a clever shot, quick work, 
They're mixing now, look out big fellow, 

blood 
First blood, the Southerner feints with rapid 

lefts 
As strikes a darting snake, let's go his right, 
In flash the blows that cut with gashing 

clefts, 
The giant weakens, staggers, on the blink, 
But reinforced he presses in despite 
Harsh punishment and lands some jarring 

blows, 
The round has gone half distance, breathing 

hard, 
He clinches, striving with superior weight, 
To tire his lighter foe, and as the day's 
Fierce round proceeds, the Southerner 

became 
Distressed, blinded with blood, but hid his 

hurt 
Behind a front of highstrung courage, yet 
The thudding fists blackened with blood beat 

hard 
Against, a barbed defense, anon the head 
[531 



THE WILDERNESS 

Would snap against the spine from frightful 

blows, 
But the lean legs, unshaken held him up, 
The Confederate chief in iron wrath that 

surged, 
To break the barrier of his self-control, 
Suppressing anger spoke with added force : 
' ' Come man, quit dozing, wake up, use your 

left." 
Responsive to a power that made its will 
To rouse the dead, the Southerner accessed 
To sudden fury, smothered back the blows, 
Renewed attack, eight seconds to the end, 
Sheer courage scarcely could maintain the 

front 
Of his offensive, dazed he guarded, blocked, 
His knees were slowly sagging, whilst the 

blow 
Was poised to end the fight, it never struck, 
A pause 'twas fatal, came the call of 

"Time"; 
The warning night descending shoved the 

two 
Apart, "I'll see yo'uns tomorrow," spoke 
The Southerner, spitting emphatic blood, 
"Marse Robert just been fooling with you 
Yanks." 

[54] 



THE WILDERNESS 

Badly beaten but unbowed he crawled out- 
side 
The ropes, and all that night his seconds 

work 
With frenzied skill, to bind his gaping 

wounds, 
With courage planned upon the morrow, first 
To stall, then strike, to bluff, then down the 

foe; 
Whilst in the Federal camp they saw their 

chance, 
And on the early morning planned to launch 
The final blow, scarce was it light when 

rushed 
The Northerner against his Southern foe, 
No feint, no swings, straight blow succeeding 

blow, 
Old wounds were open, weak with loss of 

blood 
The champion of the South fought fiercely 

back, 
His goose was cooked, three seconds more and 

done, 
The Federal shifted for the final jolt, 
Then suddenly appeared a giant form, 
Longstreet had come, his presence gave new 

strength, 

[55] 



THE WILDERNESS 

In furious rallies the Confederate drove 
The giant to the ropes and for a time 
Threatened to knock him clear beyond the 

ring, 
But his reserves of strength and courage 

saved 
His bacon, back he threw defeat's black cup 
Straight in the victor's face, who slipped one 

blow, 
Past guard of his opponent with his left 
Till then unused, then came the battle's end. 
Wearied to weakness both refused to yield, 
And so they stood, past human semblance, 

black 
With blood; from throats of partisans there 

rose 
The yell, " We've won," a silence, the 

referee 
Advanced, threw up both hands and cried, 

"A draw" 
Then bedlam broke, from all directions, 

yells 
Of "robber," "you big piece of cheese," "back 
To the farm" the Northern side declaimed, 

"we had 
Lee going," "wrong," exclaimed the South, 

"we stopped 

[561 



THE WILDERNESS 

Old Grant and beat him to the punch," "Oh 

ho!" 
Yells back the North, "Ulysses taught Bob 

Lee 
A lesson from that day, he never left 
Defensive lines, but ducked behind his guns." 
"Say Yank, maybe Marse Robert didn't 

know 
That game, remember Cold Harbor, Yank, 
When Lee made Grant pile up blue chips 

sky-high, 
Then raked the pile, Cold Harbor that's the 

name 
To give you Yanks a chill," " Yeah" yells the 

North 
"Remember, when Ulysses slipt across the 

James 
His army of one hundred thousand men, 
Whilst Lee was napping, then he rubbed his 

eyes 
Gazed skyward wondering where old Grant 

had flown." 
Friend reader here you have in few, brief 

lines, 
The gist of the campaign, that grew 

enriched 
From soil and culture of the Wilderness. 
[57] 



THE WILDERNESS 

No longer can I with light steps avoid 
The clash of Terror but step close and gaze 
Following the battle as it rose and fell, 
In rough unequal waves, thru days of storm, 
That cast upon a shore confused with roar 
Of thunder, wrecks of men, one moment 

thrilled 
With wildest exultation, dropped inert 
Swift change and horrible, the sport of 

Death's 
Dull tides ; the dash of cavalry had blown 
As first, fresh breeze, betokening the storm 
Black muttering to itself, its womb alive 
With snakes of wriggling fire and filled with 

doom. 
Grant planned a battle fitted to the fray, 
Sedgwick's sixth corps upon the Federal 

Right 
To hold, contain Lee's left, of Ewell's corps 
Where stamped old Jubal Early, Gordon, 

apt 
To vex the Ancient's soul, by his gay youth, 
This flank was formed upon the Orange 

Pike 
Extending westward towards the Spottswood 

place, 
Eastward seeking connection with the Plank. 
[581 



THE WILDERNESS 

Too bad ! the Federal container was a sieve. 
According to the plans, so neatly made, 
Warren's Fifth corps to march to Parker's 

store 
Extending westward join its right with left 
Of Sedgwick, Burnside, up to plug the 

center, 
Hancock to threaten Lee's extremest right. 
When Grant presented this neat battle plan 
To General Lee that perfect chieftain rose 
In anger roused by one possessive phrase 
Of Parker's store, ' ' 'Tis mine presumptuous 

foe 
Already have foreclosed, get out," they got. 
Then whipping from the holster at his side 
His ready gun with peppery shots he sieved 
Grant's plan of battle kicked it out of doors 
A crumpled ruin, Grant imperturbable 
No artist soul of touchy choler, took 
Material, made another battle sketch 
"This will suit Lee better," was all he said 
Grant knew war's way of crumpling wisest 

plans, 
No proper balance in this fight appeared ; 
Center outchested two supporting wings, 
Then Lee drove in a blow to Grant's short 

ribs 

[59] 



THE WILDERNESS 

That drew his lines far stretched, in direful 

pain, 
Knotted, convulsive, Hancock thus was 

drawn 
To junction of the Orange Plank and Brock 
And from the right, this left was reinforced, 
As blood congestive settles on a blow 
In time this sector was just black and blue. 
Between the hour of dawn and blazing noon 
The left of Warren's corps was beaten back 
By Hill and Heth; as Warren strove, with 

urge 
To reach Parker's emporium, gray dogs 
Kept rushing out with loud acclaim to drive 
Unwelcome visitors thru thickets, down 
The road, Hancock was ordered up about 
The hour of nine, his advance then two miles 
Beyond Todd's Tavern, where the Furnace 

Road 
Catharpin crossed the Brock, continuing 

south, 
His leading troops were on this former road, 
His orders made him to go in reverse 
Time eating manoeuvre as when a freight 
Backs from a spur to take the line again; 
All told the march and countermarch, 

devoured 

[60] 



THE WILDERNESS 

Five hours, before Hancock could reach the 

field. 
Meanwhile Lee like a skillful Toreador 
Had flung the cloak of the black wilderness 
Before blue Taurus rushing forth in rage 
His shoulders wet with blood from sticking 

darts, 
Stampeded, he returned with lowered head 
Nostrils throbbing fire, horns wide curved, 

points keen 
As polished steel, or this simile — ; a whale, 
Enmeshed and helpless, so harpooned at will 
Threshing the sea to waves of bloody froth. 
Now let us take the path of plain narration. 
The first access of battle on Grant's right 
In front of Wilderness Tavern along 
The Orange Turnpike and involved the right 
Of Warren's most of Sedgwick's corps in 

fight 
With Ewell, but this fire of conflict died 
To smouldering smoke by dull inaction 

quenched, 
But sparks were carried by a quartering 

wind 
Into the wilderness, twixt Pike and Plank, 
Starting a fire that roared and billowed 

towards 

[611 



THE WILDERNESS 

Parker's Store, driven by a contrary wind, 
Flamed down the Orange Plank between the 

hours 
Of eleven and of two; Getty's brigade 
Of Sedgwick's corps was shuffled from the 

right 
And stretched at tension, crossways of the 

Plank, 
Striving to hold Heth's strong division, 

formed 
Along a slight upslanting of the ground 
Left flank protected by the Ny, the right 
By swamps; either thru luck or skill, or 

both 
The Confederates seemed to have and to 

hold 
The best positions, likewise their bright 

guns 
Were placed in clearings near some open 

farm 
Where they could breathe out loud and bust 

the foe; 
But Grant's artillery was bound horse and 

foot 
By jungle thongs of few and narrow roads, 
A hindrance proved to passage of the 

troops, 

[62] 



THE WILDERNESS 

Late on the second day, Dow's battery- 
worked 
To fine advantage, that about was all 
The artillery had to say upon those days, 
In iron dumbness not in rising roar. 
Now Getty's right was not supported, where 
It pointed westward from the Orange Plank 
In direction towards the Orange Pike 
And Warren's left, east of the Pike, likewise 
In air, if air it could be called, and soon 
Was caught in jaws of Lee's gaunt tiger, 

there 
Wadsworth, of the Fifth, whilst struggling 

thru the brush 
Striving to join with Getty was thrown back 
Severely mauled; Crawford from Warren's 

corps 
With his division stood at Chewning's Farm 
Pointing with twitching nose toward Parker's 

Store, 
But down the wind there came a scent of 

tiger, 
With little damage this division backed 
Towards the Lacy House south of the road, 
Germanna, where an atmosphere more 

quiet, 
And vastly more refined awaited it; 

r 63 1 



THE WILDERNESS 

And at this point and place, during a lull, 
Whilst Lee's tired tiger stopped for second 

wind, 
And waiting Hancock's arrival, — a knoll 
Attracts our gaze, from here both Grant and 

Meade 
Observe the course of battle, Grant sits 

calm 
Whittling a stick, while Meade as eagle 

fierce 
Marks with high tension, where the burning 

woods 
Shows the desultory battle on the Pike ; 
Here Ewell versus Warren, and the corps 
Of Sedgwick argued back and forth the case, 
Decision was reserved, and handed down. 
Then Grant with level glasses gazed across 
The central foreground where some miles to 

south, 
Beyond the jungle thickets bathed in light 
Towards Parker's rose sulphurous vapor, 

then 
In bluish columns thru the heights of air, 
But lower down the woods were choked with 

fumes ; 
Grant shifted gazing eastward down the 

road 

[641 



THE WILDERNESS 

With grim intentness where the Plank 

obscured 
By woods did notch the Brock, the crisis 

point, 
Looking for Hancock where the need was 

great. 
Hark ! Did Grant murmur pressed for telling 

speech, 
"Hancock or noon!" No, not a murmur 

came, 
Ulysses never rose to feathered speech, 
Not his, "Soldiers from yonder pyramids," 
He lacked all flash of words, no aptitude 
That way, no silver trumpet flared his 

speech, 
But coarsely crystallized, like iron rang 
Vibrating thru the metal, such as made 
His countrymen. We come to afternoon 
And note the hour of two, sole point of 

Time 
In flood and flux of battle thru that Day 
To crystallize events, that was the hour 
When Crawford, left of Warren's corps, 

withdrew 
To Lacy's Farm, and Wilcox formed his 

line 
From direction of the Plank to join 

5 [651 



THE WILDERNESS 

With Ewell's force extending from the Pike, 
The Confederates alone showed sufficient 

skill 
To bridge the Wilderness from Road to 

Road. 
'Twas at this hour that Hill was beat in? 

back 
The force of Getty making him to walk 
The Plank to the black waters of defeat. 
"Come on! You Hancock!" but he cannot 

move, 
The Brock is blocked by trains of horse and 

guns, 
Artillery galore, no earthly use, 
Some one had blundered, this the shame of 

war 
When chasms, made by careless fools, inept, 
Arrayed in garb of military strut, 
Are filled with bodies piled on bodies, till 
Mar's chariot wheels could, in bruising 

weight 
And unimpeded roll thru muck and blood. 
"Come on! look Getty now is surely gone"; 
Then thru the dam that stretched across the 

Brock 
There burst a rider, Hancock the superb, 
His great sorrel a-fleck and flamed for fight, 
[66] 



THE WILDERNESS 

His fine and powerful presence filled with 

urge 
Of War's grim crisis, back of him there 

came 
A rush of blue, the men of Birney's, then 
At double quick, spreading to left and 

right, 
And up the Orange Plank, with white elan, 
To check and hold the troops, of Hill and 

Heth, 
Charging triumphant thru the battered men 
Of Getty's panting now behind this new 
And sudden barrier; long and gallantly had 
They fought and now relief, as in a race 
Of old the runner falls, gasping, the torch 
He falters to the one who takes his place. 
Scarce taking time to breathe, Grant's orders 

sent 
Hancock ahead to counter on Lee's right 
Behind the baffling jungle and wide swamps. 
Birney was on the Plank, upon his left 
Mott's ill-omened troops, Gibbon's division 

next, 
Then Frank's brigade, upon the furthest 

left 
Way down the Brock; right there at urgent 

start 

[67] 



THE WILDERNESS 

Hancock received initiation at hand, 

Of old man Wilderness who grimly hazed 

Those who trespassed on his forbidden 

ground ; 
Both blue and gray alike, not one escaped 
Harsh chastening, Hancock, Grant and 

Meade, 
And on the other side, Ewell and Early. 
Struggle as he might Hancock never could 
Get going as his wont, his left was held 
In tension by the threat of Longstreet who 
Was miles away, and Sheridan whose forte 
It was to scout, to find and to report, 
Left Meade in blindness thru two battling 

days 
But little Phil (no hybrid he, by birth 
And nature real American) was far 
Below his best; then Stewart who knew the 

game 
From A to Z with plus at either end 
Baffled our gallant Phil, and all the Fifth 
Jabbed him off balance, kept him in a haze 
Of minor conflicts, so he never knew 
What to report ; throughout that afternoon 
Hancock kept struggling to align his troops 
For movement 'gainst Lee's attenuated 

right. 

[68] 



THE WILDERNESS 

At length he started but in second speed, 
No shooting thru in high on such a route, 
An Ideal Tour to Hades so it seemed; 
Not fast he moved but with increasing 

power : 
Yet for a time the troops of Hill and Heth 
Held back this crushing force, how could they 

stand 
Outnumbered worn by hours of battling? 

Lee 
Beheld the need, recalled Wilcox, who 

stretched 
West of the Plank, to quench this rising 

blaze, 
That threatened soon to burn Lee's right to 

crisp, 
While from the Widow Tapp's, the rebel 

guns 
Strove with recurring boom to pound and 

break 
The Federal charge, but naught could stop it 

now 
The Confederate line was borne away 
Upon the flood ; Lee's right was on the edge 
Of ruin, just toppling — then rose as though 
From out the ground, born in the thickets 

gloomed 

[69] 



THE WILDERNESS 

By darksome pines, — the presence of the 

night, 
The Federal leaders knew that though this 

power 
Had grasped with black benumbing hands 

and stayed 
Their sword descending, still they wisely 

planned, 
That when its grip would loosen ere so 

slight, 
That sword should fall and sever with one 

stroke 
The right of the Confederate line, then 

Lee's 
Defeat was certain, yet despite these odds 
They had to face, the rebels strove to patch, 
Repair their broken fences, here with rails 
And there with mending boards or rusted 

wire. 
At best appeared, a flimsy thing to stop 
The swaying swing of that blue battering ram. 
The night between two days of battle 

showed 
No usual softness framed for rest, but 

strained 
As though deep Hell had seized this stretch 

of Time, 

[70] 



THE WILDERNESS 

Itself insurgent thru the deeds of men 
Death welcomed to Life's feast, behold now 

where 
In burning wood, the stricken soldier lies 
Twice martyred, first by wounds and then by 

fire, 
Strange cautery they received, 'twas all they 

had; 
Tormented by fierce thirst from loss of 

blood, 
And heat of woods in summer, called for 

drink, 
Some slowly dragged their shattered limbs 

to seek 
For water, mostly gasped away in dry 
Death rattles, suffocating in a grave 
Of pressing darkness, twixt the lines they 

writhed, 
Calling in agony, that stabbed the night, 
With unexampled horror, whilst in glades 
Were pitched, dim tents where limbs were 

sawed and thrown 
Outside, as piles of wood, the surgeons red 
As butchers, nor were those the happy days 
Of perfect anaesthesia nor the skill, 
Of antiseptic science, such as made 
The War of Nations seem a pleasant thing 
[711 



THE WILDERNESS 

Compared with that wherein our fathers 

fought, 
To save a nation, so that other flags 
Of hybrid meaning might be raised to float 
Beside the one they suffered to maintain. 
Suffered ! the very sponges used to cleanse 
Infected wounds were washed in water cold, 
Then full of germs were thrust in other 

wounds, 
Spreading gangrene, the blush of hideous 

death, 
The surgeons were the victims of their day, 
Oft rendered noble service to the bounds 
Of what they knew, but let it now be said 
Our Civil War was cruel past belief. 
Let us remember we, who grumble, growl, 
Self-seeking, filled with envy, hate, and all 
Unmindful of the price our fathers paid 
For this our heritage ; no guff is this, 
No waving of Old Glory, but the truth, 
For those who bear man's semblance and who 

give 
As well as take and scorn to spend at ease 
With lavish motion, all the past hath won 
Of liberty and forward hopes of man, 
In recollection hold those days that laid 
Our foundation in permanence that was 
[721 



THE WILDERNESS 

As purple porphyry dyed with essential 

blood. 
Let us return and follow close the strife, 
That woke upon the morrow at the hour 
Of five against Ewell who stood astride 
The Orange Turnpike, Wright attacked, his 

troops 
Of Sedgwick's corps, and Warren with him 

joined 
His was the left and center of the flank. 
The tale of battle on Grant's right can soon 
Be told, till half past ten the time was 

marked 
By one assault, and then another, naught 
Was gained, in statu quo, the order came, 
''Desist from firing and entrench your front." 
Thus protected, off the right all day 
Was drawn brigades and more, to reinforce 
The fighting left, its balance laid across 
The Orange Plank well suited to that act, 
As on the Turnpike stretched the other flank. 
Birney advanced to finish with one stroke 
The work night stopped, and severed Lee's 

right wing, 
By one poor sinew held, on Birney's left 
Was Mott, compelled to move thru brush and 

swamp 

[73] 



THE WILDERNESS 

And on the right, west of the Orange Plank 
Marched Wadsworth's division from War- 
ren's corps, 
Behind a second line, were Getty's troops 
Buttressed by Carroll, note that name will 

stand 
In clearer color later on this day ; 
Owen back of Carroll, the last support, 
Their two brigades, from General Gibbon's, 

thus 
Was this formation since no troops could 

move 
In Echelon, the Wilderness did put 
All movement into straight jacket roads 
Or narrow areas, thus the troops appeared 
Superimposed, few were the manoeuvres 

there. 
The woods were heavy with the sweat of 

dew, 
The sun just making live the darker green 
Of higher trees, as on a long slight rise 
Behind entrenchments crouched the troops 

of Hill 
And Heth, I use these names as though a team 
In vaudeville, their act unpopular, 
Their audience tried to chase them from the 

stage. 

[74 1 



THE WILDERNESS 

Many the heads bound round, and bandaged 

chests 
And arms, yet keen with zest, a second gun 
Leaned loaded by their sides, ready to seize, 
Then from the open ground of Widow 

Tapp's 
There barked and barked again a group of 

brass 
High muzzled hounds, Marse Robert's pets, 

and used 
By him in hunting, leaping now in joy 
Around their master, then their noses raised 
And bayed aloud, at something moving 

down 
The distant road, a color and a scent 
Displeasing to their sense of who belonged, 
From trees there fell the broken limbs and 

showers 
Of branches, or a bursting shell with spang 
Of mud, or iron fragments tore a mass 
Of blue to mangled blood, few scored a hit, 
On came the Federal sweeping up the Plank 
The trembling of the brush on either side, 
Moving as doth a wave, with menace, 

showed 
Their coming, save that, nothing else was 

seen; 

[751 



THE WILDERNESS 

A thrill of iron exultation lit 

The line of crouching soldiers garbed in 

gray 
Or plainer butternut, and from their guns 
In level unison, the hate of lead, 
Whanged forth and breath of sulphur stained 

the air, 
Again, again, in hideous rhythm, blow, 
Succeeding blow and timed with flash on 

flash 
Like teeth of grinning hate, gleamed thru the 

smoke 
Long waves of crackling leaped from out the 

line 
Brief intervals, dotted with staccato 
Of command, then a shrill crescendo "fire ! " 
Behind them deeper boom of cannon, 

shapes 
Of massive smoke ballooned above the tops 
Of trees, the air was sieved direct with zip 
Of countless bullets, many whined in zest 
Of hunger, some with satiate thud em- 
bedded 
In a soldier's chest, or keenly ravening 
Tore at the bark of trees, or chewed them 

down. 
Undaunted came the rush of Federal troops 
[761 



THE WILDERNESS 

Dark forms fast falling, left to blotch the 

road 
Whilst in the bush and swamp they dropped 

unheeded. 
Left to writhe, wrestling the hounds that 

Death 
Had loosed to strike the trail of blood, 

although 
The morning saw them gaunt, by night were 

gorged, 
Nuzzling perchance some morsel, dainty, 

browned 
Of human flesh, nor were the Federals quiet 
Beneath this scourge of fire, for at command 
Their rifles jumped against their shoulders 

taut, 
Their forms bent slightly forward and the 

cloth 
Of uniforms was wrinkled at the back 
With tension of the pose, the eye intent 
Pierced forward straight beyond the beaded 

sight, 
Outsped through flames, the light of level 

lead 
And tore white shattering splinters from the 

logs 
Of the entrenchments or struck low in dirt, 
[771 



THE WILDERNESS 

And many a soldier sank inert in death 

A bluish hole that marked the forehead, 

whilst 
At the back, there squashed a blotch of 

brains and blood. 
After the volleys charged the Federal troops 
Until the lines together heaved and swayed 
Like two fierce wrestlers till with efforts 

huge 
The giant as in old time sport reached 

round 
With one quick foot and sprawled his lighter 

foe, 
Who fell beneath his bulk half done and 

stunned, 
From out the symbol let's release the facts : 
Hill's lines were broken, shredded, torn and 

tost. 
What now could stop the fierce o'ertoppling 

sweep 
Of Birney's soldiers, wave succeeding wave 
Engulfing, swirling down to mud great 

hunks 
Of what had been a wall of living gray ; 
One rock remained to stem that onward rush, 
The clump of guns around the Widow 

Tapp's, 

[78] 



THE WILDERNESS 

They too endangered, if the Union troops 
With none to hinder, worked thru swamp and 

brush 
Outflanked these rebel batteries, struck their 

rear. 
The cannon are the army's backbone, yet 
As sensitive to hostile hand or grasp, 
As is the spinal cord, to alien touch, 
To lose a gun was counted grim disgrace 
To all the army. "Come on! charge, you 

men 
Of Maine, New York, Vermont, you've got 

them now 
They're cracked and busted, done for, Lee is 

whipt." 
Still ugly, Hill's lank veterans quickly 

turn 
In snarling packs and fire in level leaps 
Of musketry at the flushed Federals, close 
Upon their heels. And further westward, 

Heth 
And Wilcox broken though they are, resist 
With quick erratic volleys, like the gasp 
Of one, whose enemy, tightens around 
The windpipe ; mark the battle has not gone 
One hour of time and Grant has all the day 
To finish up the work so well begun, 
[79] 



THE WILDERNESS 

Evicting Lee's long line past Parker's Store, 
Then westward till the Wilderness is cleared 
The Fate of the Confederacy was limned 
In lines of Milton, rilled with lambent fire, 
' ' From morn to noon they fell, from noon 
To dewy eve, a summer's day." 
Some vision, thus to make it real the men 
Of Birney's drew breath for one final plunge 
As up the road faded the last of Hill's 
Defeated men, "Hey buddies, look, what's 

that?" 
Yelled out a grizzled sergeant pointing, 

"More 
Of them Johnnies, Longstreet, by God, here's 

where 
We fight, you bet." 'Twas true one thrust- 
ing mass 
Of gray clad soldiers split the shadowy 

road, 
Quick menace, at the double and the tread 
Of martial thousands made the quivering 

plank 
Vibrate, beneath the Federal troops who 

stood 
At check; as from a threatening cloud there 

thrusts 
A flash of keenest lightning, so there leaped 
[801 



THE WILDERNESS 

Three horsemen from that war-driven cloud 

of gray- 
Foremost a strong built man, with bearded 

power 
And port of war, his countenance full 

flushed 
With vigor of the crisis now that loomed ; 
He reined his charger on a rise beside 
The road, his able subordinates grouped 
In true perspective, with one look he swept 
The field, then with his energy repressed 
Through marching hours now released, he 

hurled 
With thrusting hand his fierce divisions, 

right 
Center, left, Kershaw, Anderson and Fields; 
Each unit felt the outward shove and force 
Of their great leader's outthrust arm and 

will, 
With sounding impact struck the foe's 

advance, 
In fact the Federal lines, were all awry, 
Irregular by their victorious rush, 
And broken by the thrust of jungle, brush ; 
So Birney's left east of the Plank and 

deep 
In brush, too far beyond his center, this 

6 [81] 



THE WILDERNESS 

Longstreet was quick to see, and roared to 

Kershaw 
"Make that Yankee whelp dress on his 

center." 
This bad alignment grieved him to the core, 
'Twas soon corrected but Kershaw, inclined 
To go too far, was twisting back Birney's 
Left arm, to make it helpless for the fray. 
The lines were re-established under fire — 
Birney and Wadsworth, Cutler of the Fifth, 
The left of center backed by General Webb, 
These battled thru the morning on the 

Plank 
And off, against the men of Anderson 
And Fields, with fortunes swaying back and 

forth, 
Like powerful wrestlers who can never gain 
Distinct advantage, acres of heavy brush 
Were trampled as by rush of charging bulls 
And underneath the matted green there ran 
Strange rivulets of darker hue than those 
Of nature, whilst continually the fire 
Was fed with oil of human life and blood; 
When died the flames of combat down to 

smudge, 
In flowed a stream that caused the fire to 

leap 

[82] 



THE WILDERNESS 

To the intensity of molten air, 

This holocaust was fed, from right and 

left 
And center of Grant's line, Getty of 

Sedgwick's 
Corps, Stevenson's division from the ninth, 
Owen, Carroll, Webb of the second corps 
These formed Gibbon's division, all were 

drawn 
By draft that drew in suction up the Plank 
Into the roaring furnace of the fight. 
And now we turn to tie the ravelled ends 
Of this our narrative of what occurred 
Outside the zone of battle on this flank. 
(Time, twixt the hours of seven, eleven) 
Important aye well nigh decisive these 
Events beyond the clashing zone, as though 
Some enemy's deceitful hand was placed 
Upon the levers, sidetracking this main 
Movement, or running that on some blind 

spur. 
There is relaxation in change from roar 
Of battle to affairs of lesser strain, 
Yet in war, minor matters possess 
A grave import that gives significance, — 
A sunken road ; access of sudden fear 
Upon a leader's mind might make for ruin. 
[83] 



THE WILDERNESS 

So runs the legend that our eyes now scan ; 
Throughout the morning hours from six till 

noon 
A comedy of errors ruled the left, 
Scarce humorous for the men who died in 

droves, 
But war alas, too often has been brewed 
By folly of the wise, its fortunes then 
In hands of pompous fools, or traitors who 
For their religion, knife their country's 

cause. 
The Federal errors clustered round two 

points : 
That Burnside would arrive upon the sixth 
In early morning, then to aid attack 
On left of center supporting Hancock; 
The second, fear lest Longstreet or Pickett 
Were coming round the left to strike the 

rear. 
To Grant and Meade upon the knoll of 

pines 
There came the noise of battle o'er two 

miles 
Of wood with long drawn crackle and the 

boom 
Of deep-mouthed cannon, Grant scarce raised 

his head, 

[84] 



THE WILDERNESS 

Stopped whittling, then remarked to General 

Meade, 
"Hancock's loose, where's Longstreet"? then 

whittled slow; 
But Meade who bore the burden of the 

day's 
Intolerable detail, growled forth in rage, 
"Where's Burnside, General? that's the 

question now," 
Grant's knife no deeper cut the tender 

stick 
He turned it round and shaped the other 

end, 
At that tense moment galloped up an aide, 
Swung off, gray white with dust, at straight 

salute 
Before the glare of Meade, reported crisp 
Where Burnside was, the tall, lean form of 

Meade 
Forthwith seemed charged with blue electric 

flame, 
Vibrating through his nerves, the veins that 

marked 
His forehead swelled beyond their natural 

wont, 
His voice not loud, intense, crackled the 

air; 

[85] 



THE WILDERNESS 

Like a lion, determinate distance paced, 
Stopping with hand behind his back tight 

clasped 
In knotted wrath his eagle profile keen, 
With eyes that burnt the distance and 

focused 
Thru stolid Burnside where he rode thru 

woods 
In leaden slowness, uneasily he shifts 
But makes no haste, and all the time Meade 

heard 
The fast increasing roar of battle, where 
Along the road Hancock had loosed his 

charge, 
Looking for Burnside to complete the blow. 
Grant had risen, approaching where Meade 

raged, 
Who turning viewed his chief his temper 

leashed 
By discipline, for be it known that Meade 
Was soldier thru and thru, and bore in this 
Campaign the brunt of things hard to 

endure, 
And kept his country, higher than his pride, 
To the Republic gave his steady skill, 
And steered his course unto the end, 

despite 



THE WILDERNESS 

Strange baffling winds and treacherous 

currents. 
In later life deprived of his just due, 
While Sheridan, Grant's favorite forged 
Ahead, so runs the legend of this world. 
Grant wearing now the mask of grim 

control, 
Wrote out two orders, then two aide de 

camps 
With instant speed dashed down the knoll, 

the one 
Upon the slender sorrel galloped fast 
With dinning hoofs straight for the Orange 

Pike 
Where Warren fronted Ewell whilst the 

aide 
Upon the buoyant bay swift dusted down 
The Germanna towards the crater smoke 
Where burst the battle of the blazing Brock 
In leaden lava and sulphurous smoke, 
Past lines of soldiers ready for the march, 
Who jeered and laughed, not softly, as he 

passed, 
His sashed and dapper form provoking 

mirth. 
"Look out, Ole boy, the Johnnies will grab 

you sure 

[87] 



THE WILDERNESS 

And tie that pretty ribbon round your yeahs" 
"I'd rather shoot them chaps than any 

Rebs," 
Growled out another, ''Them West Pointers, 

too 
Damned mean to live; Ulysses ain't 
Their style," declared a third, "A feller 

told 
The other day, a drover had a bunch 
Of steers, and one got loose, he saw a man 
Nearby the road, he didn't know 'twas 

Grant, 
And yells ' Ole man, turn back that critter, ' 

and 
The General runs, throws up his hands and 

yells, 
He knew the feller didn't know 'twas him ; 
If it had been a lieutenant or some of those 
Headquarter birds, they'd had the feller 

shot." 
So ran the talk of soldiers, not unwise 
And with a humor keen oft scored a hit 
In circle of the truth though coarse their 

sights, 
Adjusted not to meet each varying wind. 
The pressing question now, where' s Burnside, 

near 

[88] 



THE WILDERNESS 

And yet so far, his troops were up in line 
Twixt eight and nine, but stood upon the 

brink 
Of battle never wading in till two 
P. M. and then with caution, this despite 
Loud cries for aid, and also Burnside knew 
That Hancock had made his dispositions 

with 
A view to his assistance, Humphreys, 

Meade's 
Chief of staff, able, expert, efficient, 
Without one gesture, he, the writer who 
Alone of all the chroniclers described 
Adequately the tangled struggle waged 
Within the Wilderness, his style compact 
As Caesar's and as calm, fit gauntlet 

formed 
For hand of war that moves thru science 

based 
On mathematics, Humphreys' calm verdict 
Says that Burnside's presence caused Lee to 

keep 
Back some troops to strike and counter 

against 
This powerful corps when it attacked as Lee 
Supposed it would, being the order of the 

day, 

[891 



THE WILDERNESS 

All Burnside put in balance, just 

A shadow, not to his credit the fact 

That shadows in the wilderness became 

Realities, so that Early refused 

To take the offensive upon that day, 

Because the commander of the ninth was 

near 
At hand; Burnside, the bugaboo, appeared, 
Terrible with eyes of fire, ferocious teeth 
But hollow of intent ; whilst hell was loose 
Against his comrades, Burnside sat at lunch 
Along the roadside, hamper opened wide 
Champagne b'gosh and other things to eat. 
Grant as at Donelson had simpler fare, 
Slicing a cucumber, he standing, poured 
Vinegar over it, that was his lunch. 
Burnside might picnic in war times, not 

Grant ; 
An Union man, Ambrose kept stated hours 
And hated overtime ill paid with work 
And weariness, so much for Burnside, now 
The second cause of error looms before 
Our vision, Hancock played in evil luck; 
If Burnside not enough in evidence 
Longstreet was far too much, as will appear; 
His shadowy legions moved in threat 

against 

[90] 



THE WILDERNESS 

The Federal left, and kept it taut in fear, 
His real battalions fought both sides the 

Plank, 
And so did double duty on that day, 
Another worry to heap the measure full 
For Hancock, where was Pickett, here 
Or there? in fact, was miles away, below 
Hanover Junction, Lee was forced to play 
His hand wide scattered, with consumate 

care, 
This card of Pickett's corps he was to slam 
Upon the board of some soon coming field ; 
Lee's method was to play a hidden card 
And seize the trick, the Wilderness 

combined 
With ignorance that should have been 

dispelled 
By proper scouting, kept the leaders wrapt 
In fog, where loomed strange shapes of terror 

formed 
Of moving mist ; the left was jumpy, oft 
Beheld the phantom Pickett grab its rear. 
A dread report, "the Rebs are on the Brock, 
To turn our flank," to meet this menace 

Brook's 
Brigade was sent posthaste, and barred the 

road 

[911 



THE WILDERNESS 

With quick entrenchments, crouching, waited 

there 
Breathless, the coming charge, it seemed 

delayed, 
That raging pack of wolves on instant 

changed 
To convalescent sheep, some hundred men 
Discharged from hospitals, to take their 

place 
Once more in line with comrades, thus 

welcomed 
They sought another road, and exit made. 
That flank still quivering, as a horse on 

edge 
For fright, received new shock, Longstreet 

appeared, 
Or was it Pickett, mayhap Anderson, 
Since he had failed to make a due report 
In person to the Federal chiefs, in fact 
His troops that moment were engaged along 
The Plank, and yet a strong attack was 

loosed 
Against the tip of Hancock's wing that 

felt 
Extremely fluttered, not Pickett, Long- 
street, 
Nor Anderson, the cause of all this belli, 



THE WILDERNESS 

Dismounted cavalry, a few stray guns, 
And then disturbance, thus example gives 
Of how the Southerners were forced to make 
Good double use of all they had on hand ; 
Like to the thrifty poor of other days 
Who turned their garments, made a nickel go 
A dollar's gait, likewise with shifting speed 
Recounted numbers, where was greatest 

need. 
Later the Confederacy might be compared 
To the Bon Homme Richard, Paul Jones' 

commanding, 
Patched canvas, scarce seaworthy, fought 
The towering frigates of the British line ; 
There skill, resource and daring took the 

place 
Of tonnage and equipment and the weight 
Of metal, in this self same spirit fought 
The Confederate army and its chiefs. 
Now aimed to keep the pot a-boiling, note 
At Todd's old Tavern down the Brock, the 

fire 
Of Sheridan, who barked aloud as Stewart 
Chirruped his rage to choler for a fight, 
Derisive whistling, lured him far afield. 
"What's all this shooting?" gasped the 

Federal chiefs. 

[93] 



THE WILDERNESS 

The trembling flank now paralyzed with 

fear, 
Unfit for action when it was required. 
Of all misfortunes such as marred and 

murked 
That morning's work, the heaviest was the 

loss 
Of Barlow's strong division on the line, 
He failed, though ordered to connect his 

troops 
With Mott's and Birney's left below the 

Plank, 
Frank's brigade only took position on 
Mott's left, and so from early morning 

hours 
Birney's offensive lacked the proper force. 
Of greater menace was the dangerous gap 
Between the left of Birney's, Frank's 

brigade, 
And Barlow's division down the Brock; 
In place of a long and sinewy arm, to strike 
A stump was all that showed of Birney's left 
Cut off a few short inches from the shoulder. 
Would Longstreet overlook the chance to 

wreck 
The Federal flank? Some scouts of Ker- 
shaw's found 

[94] 



THE WILDERNESS 

This gate wide open, thus no need to break 

The wall of an impregnable defense, 

Just walk right in, this Longstreet was to 

do. 
Thus on that day Hancock the ablest far 
Of Grant's Lieutenants had to carry weight 
Of heaviest handicaps, and undeserved, 
Testing his fighting spirit to the end 
And limit of its fiber ; here two men 
Were matched to wage Homeric battle, 

first 
The bearded Georgian, slow to rouse, when 

stirred, 
His frame was fused by warlike force, his 

mind 
High stationed on the watch tower of his 

will. 
Hancock in blond perfection filled the outer 

eye 
And of a martial mold seemed formed to 

lead, 
Upon the field of battle, whilst a corps 
Fitted his talents just like hand to glove, 
Rare man, knowing his scope, abided there, 
Compact, within his sphere, unvexed by 

lure 
Of vain ambition, if this soldier had, 
F951 



THE WILDERNESS 

Only maintained this poise in later life, 

He would have missed his one, his great 

defeat. 
(Now listen children, soldier boys so brave 
And simple sailor lads should never play, 
The game of politics, 'tis not their game 
'Tis only fit for Irishers and the likes 
Of them, Sherman and Sheridan were wise,) 
Our interlude of error now is played 
War's harmony whose notes are but discord; 
We come upon the phase that makes 

complete 
The ravage of that morn that had awaked 
With kiss of spring pressed warm against its 

cheek 
To lead it gently on to nuptial noon, 
And fair fruition of the later day, 
That body slim, with golden beauty 

crowned 
Lies now dishonored, black with bruising 

blood 
In dumb inanition every breath a moan. 
Menace and utter ruin was being brewed 
By Longstreet 'gainst the Union arms, his 

face 
Flushed sinister in triumph, soon complete, 
Swiftly, with silent stealth prepared to strike, 
[961 



THE WILDERNESS 

Screened by the Wilderness and crush the 

left 
Of Grant's huge army, then upon the hip 
To hurl it bodily outside the ropes, 
Sprawling beyond the Rapidan, why not ? 
It had been done, before and not so far 
Away at Chancellorsville when Stonewall 
Unperceived with his gray troopers of the 

dust 
Ripped down the Federal Flank with frightful 

claws 
Until its length was dripping in long shreds, 
Jackson was gone but Longstreet now was 

here, 
Not blessed with Stonewall's keenness that 

attacked 
And cut as doth a sword whose swiftness 

takes 
The intercepted lightning of the sun ; 
But Longstreet swung a battle axe whose 

weight 
But few could lift, it crushed defenses, sharp 
Two edged, it cuts and scatters, yet this 

giant 
Employed not maddened force alone, behind 
His ponderous blows, a mind when roused of 

deep 

[97] 



THE WILDERNESS 

Sagacity and more than Indian stealth. 
The friendly Wilderness, gave to his hand 
A helpful ally, Reader scan the map, 
Discover there half hidden thru the brush 
Longstreet's whilom comrade, yes, that is it, 
Along the fringe some hundred yards 

removed 
And parallel unto the Orange Plank, 
That frowsy bed of the half finished railroad, 
Part brother to the three main battle roads, 
The Brock, the Orange Turnpike, and the 

Plank, 
It lay neglected long the eastern edge 
Of that hushed wilderness, but like a knife, 
Carelessly trodden on, might turn and cut 
The foot, or like a snake from lethargy. 
Aroused might lift and strike, such chance 

was there. 
The Federals had foreseen in part this 

threat, 
And where, it slanted wide towards Stephen 

Triggs 
Just off the Brock, placed guns to guard 

approach, 
This railroad bed part overgrown, unused, 
Longstreet was soon to change to Victory's 

Way, 

[98] 



THE WILDERNESS 

Whilst he prepared this blow, between the 

hours 
Of ten and eleven the fight continued fierce, 
Birney and Wadsworth interlocked with 

Field 
And Anderson, in region of the Plank ; 
On Birney' s left past Mott was Frank's 

brigade, 
Recall the stump that should have been an 

arm, 
These units tired with strain of battle waged 
In heat of woods, smoke soaked with sulphur 

fumes, 
Their ammunition too was well nigh gone. 
Old Wilderness kept fighting with its craft, 
In aid of Lee, hiding his skifted troops, 
Clutching and holding back with thorny 

hand 
All reinforcements sent when crisis called. 
Before the time of noon there came a lull 
Ominous to those who felt its meaning, yet 
Welcomed by Mott's and Frank's brigade, 

well pleased 
To think that Longstreet's minions had 

received 
Enough, look past the screening woods there 

moved 

[991 



THE WILDERNESS 

By the Confederate right, south from the 

road, 
The menace, men in gray by thousands, not 
A throng, but measured lines that moved 

intent 
With purpose; standing back a hundred 

paces 
You could not see one soldier of that host, 
Closer you caught a glimpse of moving gray 
That merged in shadows in the woods 

beyond. 
This stream maintained a constant flow that 

moved 
Half hidden, that was all the eyes beheld, 
The ears heard nothing but the roar of guns 
On either side the road, thus passed the 

troops 
Of Woflord's brigade, Anderson's from 

Hill's 
Men of Mahone's Commander of this raid, 
A whiskered gnome, a strange contrast in 

size, 
Unto his giant leader, one blue streak 
Of righting flame, and to this column soon 
Added Davis' brigade of Heth's command; 
One brief half hour, that railroad bed was 

filled 

[100] 



THE WILDERNESS 

By one lean column stretching on and on 
Thru dusk and shadow, touched with scanty 

gleams 
Of sunshine, then on signal changed its 

front 
Facing due north, in motion then advanced, 
In keen elation thru the heavy woods 
Towards their unsuspecting foes who 

thought 
His enemies were all upon his front 
And never dreamed of thousands more to 

come 
Where least expected — then the deluge 

broke 
On Birney's flank and rear, it seemed as 

though 
A new confederate army leaped to life 
From out the forest, not a sound of their 
Approach above the battle, then like wolves 
Uncounted leaped upon their foe, scarce 

seen 
Before shot down, or taken captive, thus 
Frank's brigade quickly broken was 

engulfed, 
Advancing with a seething roar, they struck 
A narrow dyke of blue thrown up in haste. 
McAllister had heard alarming shots 
[101] 



THE WILDERNESS 

From left and rear, and quickly changed his 

front, 
His force o'erlapped and near surrounded, 

broke 
For the Brock, found refuge behind the line 
Of long entrenchments, that were handy 

now, 
No time to warn the men of Mott, 

immersed 
In battle, now their turn to be surprised, 
Like floundering blue fish were scooped in 

nets 
Of steel drawn by those crafty fishermen 
Longstreet's and Heth and Hill, in from the 

depths 
Of Wilderness they made one mighty haul, 
"Blue fish and suckers" grinned a rebel 

wit, 
Not all were suckers as will soon appear. 
Cut out the bunk, there comes a time to 

quit, 
A tide in man's affairs to take the ebb. 
Far as the Plank the men stopped work and 

walked 
Intently out unheeding shouts and shots 
Of irate bosses, here might wise historians 

say 

[102] 



THE WILDERNESS 

Was norm of the town meeting that became 
The form of democratic action, thus 
Achieved in midst of battle ; they revised 
That motto famed and framed in other 

days, 
''Theirs not to reason why, theirs but to 

stick 
And die, some one had blundered" this they 

quick 
Perceived and took appropriate action, 

then 
Hancock beheld what seemed defeat along 
His entire front and swept with speed to 

hold 
His line upon the Plank, contested there 
By Hill and Field; his splendid presence 

filled 
With martial force, infused his fading 

troops 
With fire of his high courage, stabilized 
The ebbing tide of war, just where he stood; 
The Wilderness swift closing in did hide 
His beacon, short-circuited electric force. 
Quick council held and next the order 

flashed, 
"Withdraw your troops and form along the 

Brock.' ' 

ri031 



THE WILDERNESS 

Longstreet by stroke of strategy and stealth, 
Had smashed the Federal left and now to 

make 
His victory complete upon that flank 
He rode impressive with the front of mail 
Leading his column down the war-worn 

Plank, 
Resistless at that moment with his force, 
Lean veterans, like scourge of rawhide made 
For hand of Mars to lash and cut and drive. 
Another evil hour bent close above 
That army which had suffered oft before 
Until its morale showed dim tarnished spots 
Of lack of confidence in some who were 
In high command. Let Longstreet but 

complete 
His blow, the cause for which Grant fought 

might fail, 
The nation's future balanced on that hour. 
Then thru the corridors of dusky air 
Above the field of battle moved the shape 
Of her whom men call Fate, her slow glide 

stopped — , 
The face high featured, dusk, impassive, 

raised 
Above all hate and hope — stretched out her 

hand 

r 104 1 



THE WILDERNESS 

And from long fingers formed of living 

bronze, 
An alien influence wavered o'er the field, 
Her work thus done Fate sought her realm 

again. 
Behold Longst^eet was riding close to 

Death 
But not at Federal hands, within the brush 
A line of men in gray, just off the road 
Crouched waiting ; with their vision strangely- 
blurred 
They saw emerge from shadow of the road 
A group of mounted officers, then fired. 
Two fell from off their horses dead as stone, 
The giant Longstreet toppled, then was 

caught 
And laid beside the road and from his chest 
Deep torn gushed out the blood, a motion 

made 
To press attack, that now had lost its force, 
Unconscious lapsed, and taken from the 

field; 
'Twas thus that Stonewall Jackson wounded 

fell 
By blinded volley of his troops who fired 
When first they saw his figure thru the mist. 
(Expert these fellows picking off their own) 
[105] 



THE WILDERNESS 

Thus Lee, by Fate was robbed of his right 

arm, 
His chief lieutenant carried from the field; 
To make ill fortune's bag of game complete, 
Two able generals carelessly were thrust 
In its capacious canvas stained with blood. 
Longstreet's attack had lost its carrying 

power ; 
All action was postponed till four o'clock, 
Thus glowing victory changed to grim 

intent. 
Fate's work was finished throned apart in 

dusk 
Her presence far removed, from God's, 

across 
Her sombre pallor passed a shadowy smile. 
Behind his breastworks Hancock seemed to 

sense 
The change and ordered out Lesure's brigade 
To sweep along the front from left to right 
His flank to be one hundred yards removed 
From Hancock's lines entrenched along the 

Brock. 
This manoeuvre was performed as on 

parade ; 
The rebs encountered, dived forthwith to 

depths 

[106] 



THE WILDERNESS 

Of their own forest, Lee reformed his line, 
His right anchored unto the railroad bed. 
Now Hancock having cleared his own front 

yard, 
Prepared to visit Lee's to stir a muss, 
Lee beat him to the punch as will be seen. 
The morning's work is done, our practiced 

hand 
Turns to the afternoon ; register three 
Hot points of time, the hours of Two and 

Four 
And Six, arithmetical progression framed 
To suit the mystic method of this day, 
So filled with happy augeries of doom 
And dim dimensions, Two, increasing Four 
Are points that spear the wing already torn 
And shattered; but before the hour of six, 
We take a change of venue from the left 
Far to the Federal right, — refreshing change, 
New characters and tinged with salient salt ; 
And here unfolds ironic drama touched 
With suspicion and suspense, so unlike 
In tone to the deep tragedy that marked 
The union left, black bruised in weltering 

blood. 
But now I turn the combination knob 
To Two, the door of narration opens wide, 
[1071 



THE WILDERNESS 

Wilcox and Potter troops of Burnside's 

corps 
Make their debut, on left-center, this 

ground 
Between the Plank and Pike, where Crawford 

was, 
Where Wadsworth had been caught in pre- 
vious fights, 
Attacking here the veteran troops of Heth, 
Perry's Floridians; somehow these last 
Appear to leave a milder taste in war's 
Deep grooved mouth than the roll of other 

names, 
Virginians, keen as salt, the pepper black 
Of Carolinians, Georgians, last of all 
Fire-eating Texans but Floridians, huh ! 
The confederates were entrenched above a 

rough 
Ravine, with usual brush — had helpful guns, 
My opinion, if the fight was waged in tops 
Of trees, the rebs alert, would have 

ensconced 
Them there — , the struggle wavered back and 

forth 
And at its close the lines stood as they 

were 
At the beginning; this the formula 
[1081 



THE WILDERNESS 

For all that fight, the struggle back and 

forth, 
And then the lines were stabilized behind 
Entrenchments, thus the whole terrain was 

marked 
On either side by breastworks hewed and 

dug 
In haste or fortified at leisure ; now 
Draws near the proper time to hear the 

plea, 
Of counsel for Burnside, why he delayed 
To take his place, in battle at the time 
Appointed; hear the plea, "The march was 

long," 
Yet so was Longstreet equal too in length, 
"But half of Burnside's corps were raw 

recruits 
And weighted down with unaccustomed 

packs," 
But war demands of all, endurance firm 
Of the unendurable, performance due 
Of the impossible, but mark this fact 
That Potter's raw unpolished troops, when 

chance 
Was given, fought in better form, than 

troops 
Of Mott, though veteran, for much depends, 
[1091 



THE WILDERNESS 

Upon the spirit of the one who leads, 
But picture Burnside, at easy lunch 
Whilst death engorged itself upon the field, 
And men who fought since early morning 

hours 
Were panting in defeat behind the wall 
Of long entrenchments up and down the 

Brock — 
A crisis, this to change a man of lead, 
To stabbing steel, but some seem made of 

sand, 
Mere weight and size, that ne'er can fuse 

with shock 
Of communicable fire ; he had his day, 
Of honor not deserved, let's speak the truth, 
He meant no harm, a patriot at heart, 
But war appears a day of judgment set 
Far ahead whose consuming fire destroys, 
Save tempered steel of character and mind, 
E'en on that metal leaves a tarnished hue 
From fires of hell ; the second point of time 
The hour of four approaches where was 

drawn 
To one fierce vortex all war's winds of 

wrath. 
Lee wrought his thunderbolt thru measured 

hours, 

[1101 



THE WILDERNESS 

From Longstreet's fall to this decisive time, 
And crammed with high explosive, if they 

had 
Agreed those two — , Longstreet and Lee, and 

fired 
A double-barreled offensive, it would 
Have torn great holes within the foes* 

defense, 
But Longstreet obstinate would fire too late, 
Lee of larger nature would take the blame. 
There was no surprise, Lee's attack was 

hurled 
Savagely against the line of Hancock's, where 
Entrenched along the Brock, to front and 

rear. 
Two full divisions swept to the assault, 
Names not unfamiliar, Anderson and Field, 
At one hundred paces from the wooden 

walls 
Along the Brock, they halted their advance 
With one long rattling fire of leveling lead. 
In cover of the smoke, they rushed against 
The force of flame that thrust and spurted 

forth 
Thru heavy haze of sulphur, thus repelled 
Volleyed with ragged hate, then forward 

rushed, 

[111] 



THE WILDERNESS 

The barrier of resinous logs caught fire, 
The smoke and heat then drove the Federals 

back, 
With frenzied yells the confederates swept 
The long entrenchment; thru the thickened 

air 
Of battle stood high poised on topmost log, 
A figure gaunt, taut held his banner staff, 
High glowed the flag cross barred with stars, 

and seemed 
Alive; before the southern charge and surge 
Of fury broke the troops of Mott's command, 
Ward's brigade crumbled, both sought safety 

past 
The second line, but here the great attack 
Stubbed toe and stumbled on a stubborn root, 
Dow's battery, sixth Maine, refused to 

budge 
Buttressed the second line with all their 

weight, 
Their guns in rhythmic fury, leaped, 

recoiled, 
Then leaped again, thru smoke they pounded 

back 
The whelming pressure of the furious foe, 
The forest caught afire; though ringed with 

flame, 

[in] 



THE WILDERNESS 

The gunners faltered not, their courage 

glowed. 
In high vibrations such as overpowered 
The coarse red color made of common flame, 
And hurled repeating crash on crash to 

stem, 
The rebel rush, point blank they bowled it 

out. 
You glimpsed at times, thru smoke, half 

naked forms 
Of men within a living furnace, scorched, 
With courage hotter than the fire, repelled 
Attacks, each motion counted as they 

rammed 
And fired with timing force and powerful 

swing 
Of blackened bodies, this the breed of men 
Who drove the Yankees clippers in old days 
Around the Horn, and cut the masts that 

swayed 
Pointing with slender tips at alien stars, 
Sinewy in type, lean, brutal, unafraid. 
Likewise at crossing of the Plank and 

Brock, 
Another section of this battery fought, 
Plugged back the rebel rush, hats off to 

Dow, 

• [113] 



THE WILDERNESS 

To his brass guns and to his fighting men. 
These twain did form the bridge-heads of 

defense 
Against the cresting flood, that swept the 

dam. 
Come on ! you infantry, the guns cannot 
Fight it upon their own forever. Sprang 
Carroll's brigade from out the second line, 
Swept thru the drift of beaten units, steel 
Low leveled, straight for that bitter ground, 
Between the trenches; clash, on clash, there 

rears 
A rising wave, that mounted with a roar 
Like meeting of two great seas, held, then 

heaved 
One moment in tense balance, next beyond 
The dyke, toppled the invading waves, then 

broke, 
Confused in graying masses ebbed away; 
For a brief time only the Confederates clung 
Like leeches to the outer side of what 
They just had won, then threatened on their 

flank 
By Birney's troops retreated slowly, turned 
And fired at will, until at last they merged 
Into the jungle from whose depths had 

rushed 

[114] 



THE WILDERNESS 

One hour or less: 'twas five the work was 

done 
Upon the left, full measure then some more. 
Soon to their ears there came the sound of 

guns, 
Of furious fighting on the furthest right 
Smoke of a new conflagration rolled 
To dim the sunset as the morn was dimmed. 
"By Gosh" declared a stalwart son of 

Maine, 
Of Dow's battery "them Johnnies ain't all 

dead. 
Old Sedg be calling for the sixth of Maine 
To quiet 'em," "Oh to hell with you short 

tail," 
Growled out a soldier as he passed Dow's 

sixth, 
"Us fellows up in front is all that keeps 
Them Johnnies from toting off your guns 
And turning them to fire the other way." 
" I didn't see you fellers out in front 
A half hour back," replied the gunner, 

"fact 
You was heading for home, or thereabouts." 
So chaffed these friendly enemies. Now turn 
With me and trace the cause, and watch the 

course 

[115] 



THE WILDERNESS 

Of battle far upon the union right, 
Past Wilderness Tavern and here we change 
Our Base of conflict from the brutal Brock, 
So long accustomed, to Germanna Road 
That runs south from the Ford that bears its 

name, 
The feeder of the fight by which the troops 
Were marched, now the Orange Court House 

Turnpike 
Takes precedence of its poor brother, called 
The Orange Court House Plank, and to these 

twain 
I give their full baptismal names, this once, 
In place of Hub and Bub of battle brew. 
The final action of this blasted day, 
Has different pitch, and varied motive 

tone, 
Much lighter and more swift than marks the 

black 
And brutal, struggles of the Plank and 

Brock 
To which I say farewell with lightened 

heart. 
Suspense is here, the action too is framed 
In psychological elements, touched 
With grimest humor, characters are changed 
In this fifth act, a different stage; in place 
[116] 



THE WILDERNESS 

Of Hancock, Birney and their aides, salute 
John Sedgwick, Wright and with a different 

note, 
Shaler and Seymour who achieved some 

fame. 
And on the southern side we page instead 
Of Longstreet, Hill and Heth, these stalwart 

names, 
Ewell, old Jubal Early and his vis — 
A-vis young John B. Gordon, Brigadier, 
A group of characters, with tang of salt, 
Straight lines, odd angles and Spencerian 

curves. 
No Shakespeare hath arisen, none will rise 
To give them portraiture, the more the pity, 
Americans derived from English stock, 

strength joined 
With quaintness formed by pressure of a 

new, 
A strange environment, the richest field 
Of human history gone to oblivion ; 
The southern race who fought the Civil War 
Was eaten of it and its bones are dust, 
In scant and scattered records of that time 
Both north and south between the strata 

formed 
Of many volumes, portions of the frame 
[117] 



THE WILDERNESS 

And skeletons of giants that is all. 
Yet mind should cover being and events, 
No boy who died, forgotten, half consumed 
By fire and all consumed by teeth of time 
In that dread battle of the fifth and sixth, 
Should go without remembrance thru the 

word 
Once written; when we too shall fail and 

fall 
Apparently forgotten, back of us must 

brood 
The minds of those who follow, on our fate, 
Relate our efforts to the finished whole, 
And deck our desolation with the rose 
Of Life's eternal beauty, flutter Muse 
To earth and take the mortal way of power 
And pain, of humor that is salt unto 
Our feast and savor to our famine, now 
We come to those who closed the day; 

salute 
John Sedgwick, type and strong embodiment 
Of the old army, in his day pursued 
The Indians of the plains, as Lieutenant 

fought 
Throughout remote campaigns of wonder, 

blazed 
With names of Vera Cruz, Chapultepec 
[1181 



THE WILDERNESS 

And Monterey, there General Winfield Scott 
Full orbed in size, ability and fame, 
Took luster from the war of 1812. 
Taylor and Worth, the latter's shaft that 

stands 
Archaic past the pre-Homeric days; 
The war that sprouted captains, aye and 

slim 
Lieutenants, all these grew to Generals 

large 
Within our Civil War, let's call the roll, 
Listen, Lee and Grant, Jackson and Sherman, 

Meade 
Paired with Longstreet, Jubal Early linked 
With Sedgwick, classmates at West Point, 

alas 
Comrades once, now together close they 

meet 
But at a different angle, bitter black 
That feud, but my imagination draws 
In midway flight to those Elysian fields 
Where Heroes dwell withdrawn yet not 

remote, 
They hear this narrative of mine in moods 
Befitting; wireless? Oh no, more subtle 

ways 
Than that, for use of spirits yet beware 
[1191 



THE WILDERNESS 

The Bunk, — Lee listens gravely, once his 

eye 
Flashed fire, then milder grew, no comment 

made; 
Grant scarcely said a word, but nodded 

once, 
As Rawlins by his side, excited drew 
A map upon his palm, and dented deep 
With an emphatic ringer where two lines 
As highways crossed, a glint appeared in 

Grant's 
Eyes, ' ' Rawlins better put it up to Lee 
He knows," the other heroes were less calm; 
Sheridan moved with fuming steps along 
The flashing shore, then seized and mounted 

quick 
Achilles' charger, galloped off before the 

Greek 
Could catch his august breath, and Burnside 

swelled 
In anger till John Sedgwick soothed him 

with 
A tale of humor, Early stood aloof 
In scorn, a Yankee and a civilian, write 
About the war ! one question asked a bright 
Attendant, "Did this writer make comment 
Upon his style of dress? " Thus reassured, 
[1201 



THE WILDERNESS 

Grunted indifference as what else he said, 
This little flight of Fancy now is winged. 
Return we to reality to end 
This bitter business that is nearly done. 
To John Sedgwick, the army was his home. 
As to a sailor seems his ship when left, 
All else was alien, grizzled now with time, 
Gross hardships, keenly wrinkled round the 

eyes, 
Steadfast and skillful in his harsh trade of 

war, 
His life and interest centered in his corps, 
The Sixth, the men his children whom he 

held 
In strict but kind regard, a type you find 
Sometimes within the army but most rare. 
(General Smith another of this type 
Initial W. F. who led fresh raw recruits, 
At Donelson in one victorious charge,) 
Sedgwick was doomed to fall some days 

ahead 
At Spottsylvania, pierced below the eye 
By bullet from a skilled sharp-shooter's 

gun. 
He took his chance with death as routine 

work 
As the man of business goes to his desk, 
[1211 



THE WILDERNESS 

The laborer or clerk, unto his task. 
A Yankee born, but minus of their guile, 
Without ambition bore his country's sword, 
A simple, honest man, his loss struck home 
Throughout the army, Grant and his 

Generals, 
Stopped for one moment in full tide of war 
To bow their heads in tribute to his worth, 
For men of character are not replaced 
Their loss is loss of vital blood, not skin 
Abrasion, as the death of selfish men, 
That hurts but for the moment then is 

cured. 
John Sedgwick rests upon the burial slope 
Of the New England Village, once his home. 
Upon this day to be his last for work 
In heat of battle, Sedgwick was below 
The level of his usual competence 
As were Hancock, and Sheridan and all 
The Federal chiefs, the Confederates too 
Were not themselves exempt as will 

transpire; 
Men's energies subnormal 'neath the weight 
And pressure of the Wilderness, and minds 
Bewildered by its gloomy portents, saw 
New, strange battalions form from moving 

mists. 

[1221 



THE WILDERNESS 

Across from Sedgwick glowered that warrior 

grim 
Old Jubal Early, like unto a tree 
Half slanted by the winds of temper, 

gnarled 
With ugly nodules, but still full of sap, 
A bachelor but of the crabbed type 
Whilst John Sedgwick was wedded to his 

work 
And quietly genial ; Early had but one 
Devotion, this his mother and her needs, 
Aside from her, his temper blew against 
The world, his character is summed in 

this — , 
He scorned allegiance to the flag he fought, 
Unreconstructed exile to the end. 
The Muse of History places on his tomb 
Her tribute with a half ironic smile, 
Yet touched, with tenderness for the man's 

stark 
Honesty of nature, — now whose portrait 

next? 
Young General Gordon, Georgia's gifted son 
Embodiment of the flamboyant South, 
High eloquence with classic bombast filled, 
No humor, pendant beard and narrow face. 
Sound pallor, high forehead, and motive hair 
[1231 



THE WILDERNESS 

Brushed smoothly back, unruffled by the 

stress 
Of thought, but fight? His every fibre 

thrilled 
To battle, here he flashed the sword of Ney 
Kis bellying bombast gone like vacant air 
All faculties were focussed on attack, 
Alert and keen to see and quick to strike 
Sardonic contrast showed between this 

Youth 
And his commander, at his near approach 
You could observe old Early bristle, "What 
This upstart lawyer full of gestures, words 
To teach an old campaigner," so he 

growled ; 
Mark well there is no caste so strong as 

brands 
Those trained in arts of war, this rooted 

pride 
Is their life blood and source of energy, 
Too oft it makes them rigid, now it chanced 
Throughout this campaign two young 

Brigadiers 
But not West Pointers showed unusual 

force 
And true initiative, on either side 
Gordon of Georgia, and young Nelson Miles. 
[1241 



THE WILDERNESS 

There is a story worthy to be told 

Concerning Gordon and his elder chief, 

Implicit irony, in chuckling mirth. 

Old Jubal sat his charger watching grim 

His army crossing at a ford in haste 

When came a sight that caused his eyes to 

bulge 
"By God! What's that?" his coruscated fire 
Of language made the ambient air to crisp ; 
It was enough to drive a milder man 
To words, for there appeared splashing the 

ford 
In midst of his mans' army, what a sight ! 
A woman's equipage and at the helm 
A negro coachman, there a lady sat; 
Thru the old warrior's nature went a shock 
Of double voltage, for he was two things, — 
A soldier, and a bachelor at heart, 
This shock communicated all around, 
His staff stood withered and the passing 

troops 
Grinned their appreciation, Early saw them 

not, 
His outraged eyes beheld one object that 
A lady's caravan amid his troops, 
It was too much, he said it was, out loud 
And apoplexy sought him for its own, 
[125] 



THE WILDERNESS 

Just then an aide drew near saluted, said 
''Sir, it's Mrs. Gordon's carriage," at these 

words 
The General gulped three times, then rode to 

meet 
The lady, sweeping off his hat he bowed 
Old fashioned courtesy, in act and words ; 
Crabbed he was and odd, but it is plain 
To you the man's real nature, not so shines 
On such occasion, Hooker, Sheridan, 
Nor Sherman, only Grant and George G. 

Meade 
Would have been equal each in his own 

way 
To such emergency; the interlude 
Is done, we now observe the final act, 
A paler replica of what was staged 
Upon the other flank, same in outline, — 
Assaults, repulses, death and little else 
For either side ; the southern cannon placed 
In balance, note the group at Widow 

Tapp's, 
And at the other end in open ground 
Near Spottswood's thence to sweep Ger- 

manna Road; 
By strange coincidence, forwith appears 
To even matters, Fear's obsessions 
[1261 



THE WILDERNESS 

Riding the southern mind, remember once 
'Twas Hancock held from free advance by- 
threat 
Of absent Pickett, next of Longstreet's 

corps, 
Early was paralyzed that day by fear 
Of bruising Burnside roaring for the fray, 
Crushing the center with his powerful corps, 
But as it chanced Ambrose entertained no 
Such thought, a roaring lion? au contraire 
The speed and spirit of a browsing ox, 
Yet Early was enthralled of what indeed 
Was but a bugaboo, just like a round 
Fierce dentured pumpkin flushed with candle 

light; 
But Gordon who had fought, about the time 
Of noon, a fierce engagement in the brush 
East of the Orange Turnpike, was on edge 
To make a dash against the Federal right, 
But surly Early waxed more obdurate 
Against the scarce concealed impatience 

shown 
By his young Lieutenant; like a mule in 

sand 
Ears back, refused to budge because he 

feared 
Burnside's attack, indeed it should have come, 
[1271 



THE WILDERNESS 

Restless, unappeased, Gordon scouted far 
Around the Union line and found that flank 
In air, not picketed and unentrenched, 
No wonder, Gordon born a fighter, felt 
A tremor and the fervor of the chase 
As does a tiger crouched and taut to spring 
Upon his guileless prey ; Gordon proclaimed 
In later life this chance beyond its worth, 
"Mayhap" and "Might have been," magic 

genii 
Small at first, swell the world with substance 

formed 
Of vast hypothesis ; at least his plan 
In part was realized; mark towards the 

close 
Of afternoon, a mounted group crashed 

through 
The central jungle, westward from the 

Plank 
Towards the Turnpike, freed at length from 

clutch 
Of its detaining waves, their horses leaped 
In thundering rhythm down the dust spurned 

road, 
Thru sun and shade that flickered as they 

swept, 
To waken battle where it long had slept, 
[1281 



THE WILDERNESS 

Upon the left of the Confederate line. 
There was no mistaking, he who rode ahead 
On the great chestnut gray, with iron mixed 
And mane curved back upon the wind of 

speed, 
The splendid head, the beard with silver 

sheen ; 
In the close velvet collar of the coat 
On either side, three stars of ranking gold, 
The power and glow of war surrounded him 
As on he rode, then reined his charger 

with 
Ungentle hand, before Headquarter's tent, 
Ewell and Early, rose, saluted, Lee 
Held them in gaze of high Olympian wrath 
That caused these veterans stern and harsh, 
To dwindle with the look of truant boys. 
Lee's anger never crackled with the leap 
Of flame but swept with silent surge that 

left 
A width of barren blackness where his wrath 
Had burned, gentle in strength and patient, 

yet 
When roused for cause, his men of might 

afraid 
Of nothing, feared his moods of burning 



wrath. 



129 



THE WILDERNESS 

His words were simple but his gaze was not, 
It seemed to hold their failure up to scorn 
Of final judgment, "Gentlemen, can you do 
Nothing here to relieve the pressure on 
My right?" Now was Gordon's opportunity 
His duty to declare before his chief, 
(His superiors itched to clutch him by the 

throat) 
The splendid chance that seared his hand to 

use. 
Lee heard, and gave the order for attack, 
And thru his voice and eyes unveiled there 

flowed 
An urgency that burned with scathing force, 
Made Ewell's indecision one unit 
Of resolve, whilst Early's crabbed stubborn 

will 
Was for the moment changed to fluent 

force, 
To set again in rigid mold as soon 
As pressure of his master's mind was gone. 
But Lee had spoken, thus was Gordon 

loosed, 
And with peculiar swiftness two brigades 
Gordon's and Johnson's were in motion, 

'twas 
Close to the hour of six, the measured sun 
[130] 



THE WILDERNESS 

Was level in the west prepared to call 
"Time" on this bloody battle, see the dusk 
Already changed to gloom in sullen depths 
Of the black Wilderness, where was thick 

smoke, 
Tramped brush, torn cartridges and dark 

trails of blood ; 
Where there should have been naught but 

nature green, 
Were blackened stumps of what were once the 

forms 
Of men, and others stretched, both blue and 

gray, 
Mere boys, in death's contorted horror, left 
To carrion birds and furtive forest rats, 
God grant this form of madness soon shall 

pass 
Clean off the earth, who can this .riddle 

read. 
This carnival of blood and pain the sole 
Great sacrifice that man hath ever made 
For cause either than himself; here the 

male 
Has suffered in his body to bring life 
From blood he spills, as women groan in 

travail. 
Close up 'tis not a pretty world, but hath 
[1311 



THE WILDERNESS 

Its uses, so at least we've been informed. 
This battle might now be compared unto 
A log, that had burnt fiercely at one end 
And now was smouldering black with not a 

spark, 
And then the other end was seen to burst 
In sudden flame fanned by the changing 

wind. 
We see the silent men of Gordon's formed, 
In a wide clearing near a stretch of woods, 
Unto their ears attuned, not distant sounds 
Within the forest, blows of axes clipped 
Into the boles of trees and careless shouts ; 
The Union soldiers were all unaware 
Of that lean crouching line about to spring 
Upon them not prepared in mind or arms, 
These men of Shaler's thought the day was 

done, 
Not so did Gordon's, from his left there 

stretched 
Johnson's brigade, right to the forest edge, 
In his support, no time was wasted, there 
Was none to waste, each minute of the day 
Was weighted with the gold in reddish tinge 
Of briefest opportunity, now came 
A silent signal, those long lines of gray 
Poised, plunged into the green bodied woods 
[1321 



THE WILDERNESS 

As swimmers dive into the sea, so lost 

To view for brief breath holding seconds, 

they 
Emerged in clearing, thronged with Union 

troops, 
Coatless and careless armed with axe and 

spade, 
Building entrenchments, destined not to 

use, 
Surprised, engulfed by hundreds, onward 

swept 
The Confederates shoving to discard, a 

mass 
Of prisoners, more, still more, past their 

advance, 
Two Federal generals fell into their net, 
That bellied with the weight of easy fish. 
The far outreaching forces quick enveloped 
The troops of Wright on flank and rear, and 

spread 
A panic down the Germanna road that 

shook 
Headquarters', where a courier cried that 

all 
Was lost and Lee had won as was his wont, 
This Grant met quietly, with a cold 

contempt, 

[133] 



THE WILDERNESS 

A grating common sense that created 

An atmosphere where hot and fuming 

fright 
Was changed to coolness, just as iron drawn 
From furnace hisses to steam when plunged 
In water, panic quenched and disappeared 
As vapor mixes, fades in cooler air, 
With orders brief and curt Grant set a dam 
Against the coming tide , if such it proved, 
But dusk had thickened and the southern 

troops 
Were disordered by their swift advance thru 

brush ; 
As they drew nearer the nerve centre, called 
Headquarters, they received a shock of 

strong 
Reaction, as the Federal troops drew taut, 
Gordon withdrew to his established lines. 
The battle called the Wilderness was done. 

In symbol named the Battle of the Roads 
That color took from fortunes of the fight ; 
The Turnpike formed of early promise, 

steeped 
In hue of orange ; moving from the fords 
The Germanna road, the gray of service 

wears ; 

[134] 



THE WILDERNESS 

The Plank a crimson band through memories 

lit 
In triumph flaming, twice for Blue and 

Gray; 
The Brock empurpled with the gush of 

blood 
From sides of stricken armies, so behold 
The Wilderness for evermore a flame 
With streaks of color, brilliant as a flag, 
Glowing orange, thus typifying Hope, 
Crimson of Victory, and perpetual hue, 
Of purple for Remembrance. 



[135 



EARTHQUAKE 

A quiver not from outside shock, but deep 
Within the vessel of our World in which 
We sail on unchartered seas, then slow before 
My sight in deep opacity was seen 
A giant blind, inchoate, whose dread name 
Was Earthquake ; scarcely blocked inside our 

sphere 
In which he stooped and seemed a vast earth 

thing, 
Like to the phantasia of a Cubist's mind, 
With sinews of long strata down the arms, 
Back broader than a mountain's width of 

base, 
Bent at right angles, face scarce featured, 

blank 
As blindness, a head unhewed with frontlet 

formed 
Of monolithic miles, measureless limbs 
Embedded in the foundations of the earth. 
[1361 



THE WILDERNESS 

The terror was that as an entity 
This ancient giant might be made to live, 
To charge in fury like the Rhino when, 
It rushes from the jungle mad with rage. 
Thus after slumberous ages dim and dumb 
This primordial monster felt the touch 
Of some strange stimuli, to depth on depth 
Unto a grey, inchoate sense, he moved 
A fraction, and great cities shook and men 
Scuttled in fright; old Earthquake settled 

down 
To his blank stone age blindness once again. 
After a brief breath holding, the earth folk 
Like busy ants were rushing here and yon 
Puffed with a thousand lusts and petty 

prides, 
And fattened with loose luxuries and the 

spoils 
Of commerce: Marvelous appeared then- 
works, 
They drove long tunnels underneath the 

ground, — 
One deep extended excavation touched 
The giant's cuticle, tickling his shoulder 

vast, 
Across the Cubist's face, the vagueness of 
An idiot's grin, a mist of humor, then 
[1371 



THE WILDERNESS 

A grayness gave his measureless blank 

width 
Of indeterminate face a faint approach from 

stone 
To animation, and his shoulders twitched 
As does a horse's flank touched with a straw, 
A slight reaction, but proud cities shook 
To their deep foundations, from the doom 
Foreshadowed fled the populace, — not hurt, 
Chattered like frightened monkeys, soon 

assured 
They were immersed in evil ways again, 
Blaspheming the patient Powers above who 

wrought 
And sacrificed to bring them good but met 
With sneers and murderous hearts, and all the 

while 
Inciting with their deeds the forces blind 
Within the earth and joining malice with 
The Powers of Air who disobedience 

wrought. 
So Man did make his own destruction sure ; 
End of the cycle neared, the crisis gloomed, 
Weird warnings flashed and showed abysmal 

depths, 
Unheeding, Man's insolence did fast increase, 
In wild abandon sought his wilful ways, 
[1381 



THE WILDERNESS 

Disdainful of what little good he once 
Had learned, then evil overflowed, and seeped 
Below, and black magnetic forces from 
Low lusts of surging millions, keenly drawn 
And stored for ages till the air of earth 
Was overcharged and then vibrated down, 
Far down, until it reached the solid bulk 
Of him, the primordial one, and thereupon 
His coldness turned to warmth, to heat, to 

rage, 
Between great jagged teeth serrated like 
Sharp crests of mountains, crazed he ground 

great rocks, 
And smoke of brimstone filled the under- 
world ; 
Forth from his darkness vomited fierce flames 
And gulping smoke, then far there shown the 

blaze 
Of coned volcanoes, finally roused past rage 
Unthinkable, a Frankenstein complete, 
The strata muscles of his arms coalesced, 
Slow heaved his shoulders, up the blocks of 

fists, 
The head strained striving 'gainst grim pres- 
sure, jaws 
Serrated, dripping lava thick as blood ! 
He surged and swayed, the surface of the earth 
[1391 



THE WILDERNESS 

Rolled frightfully as though the solid ground 
Were waves of water and the crust was split 
As tissue; Then mine eyes appalled beheld 
The Highest City topple to its doom, 
Swaying, giddy, trembling, falling, ruined, 
Helpless in fury of this Thing undreamed ; 
A roar and crash continuous past the noise 
Of earthly battles, then was shut from view 
In shrouding smoke, dim dust most strangely 

lit, 
With flames that flared and died, quick 

greenish glares. 
For days uncounted all was hid in gloom, 
Then from the North there blew a bitter 

wind 
That swept where heat and death had 

wrought obscured 
In darkness, even then the air was dun 
As though our orb were muffled close in grey 
Of deepest mourning, then mine eyes beheld 
A jumbled mass of mountains, hills and 

plains, 
Sharp broken granite, myriad rising hills 
In surging grey, to lesser levels ebb ; 
Athwart this heaped up desolation ran 
A higher ridge, that formed the grave of some 
Great Thoroughfare ; far down the island rose 
[1401 



THE WILDERNESS 

Within the sombre sky, a skeleton 
Embodying once a city, dedicate 
To rites of Mammon, now its monument, 
From perilous heights there flapped a girder 

like 
A broken limb, and through its forest red 
Of structural iron swept an alien wind, 
Shrilling in mockery or moaned attuned 
Unto a requiem strange, and over all 
A silence such as man hath never known, 
The silence of a grave outstretched for miles, 
A sky for shroud, grey, dank as cerement 

cloth, 
An air whose pallor gave no hope of warmth. 
Not here alone was ruin, for round Rome 
Had vanished and the waves rolled o'er the 

hills 
Once dominating, now forever hid ; 
Paris was leveled with her plain and scarce 
Discernible ; London forever lost 
Within its dusk, and now made permanent. 

Man wrought creation then enhanced its 

doom 
His walls and turrets down in dust dissolve, 
And souls to Satan, sifting down as chaff. 

[141] 



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